THEORIES OF RELATEEVEETY: THE CAFFREY COUSINS

Okay, here's a possible theory of relateeveety for you:
Neal Caffrey, 'White Collar'
Dr. Molly Caffrey, 'Threshold'

I'm thinking a relation no closer than the two of them being first cousins. That way it doesn't have to ever come into play in dialogue during 'White Collar'.

And since we haven't seen those human-inhabiting aliens (but then, how would we know?) since 'Threshold' went off the air, perhaps Dr. Caffrey and the rest of her team have either vanquished the threat of invasion or they are still fighting the good fight.

Even if her character has fallen in the battle since 'Threshold' went off the air, enough time has passed before 'White Collar' premiered for Neal to have mourned his cousin (while he was in prison) and then moved on. It could have been news of her death upset him enough to trip him up so that FBI Agent Peter Burke could catch him.

BCnU!

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE: ST. VALENTINE'S, 1929

Here's another real world event on St. Valentine's Day which has been incorporated into Toobworld: Sophia Petrillo and her husband Sal, with her father, were at the scene of the 1929 St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. The various copies of the scene at YouTube have been disabled for embedding, so you'll have to click here.

BCnU!

TOOBWORLD MEETS THE REAL WORLD: 2/14/1962

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducted a tour of the White House on Valentine's Day in 1962, which was incorporated into Toobworld via 'Mad Men'.

From Wikipedia:
Jacqueline Kennedy, wife of President John F. Kennedy (1961–63), directed a very extensive and historic redecoration of the house. She enlisted the help of Henry Francis du Pont of the Winterthur Museum to assist in collecting artifacts for the home, many of which had once been housed there. Other antiques, fine paintings, and improvements of the Kennedy period were donated to the White House by wealthy philanthropists, including the Crowninshield family, Jane Engelhard, Jayne Wrightsman, and the Oppenheimer family. Stéphane Boudin of the House of Jansen, a Paris interior-design firm that had been recognized worldwide, was employed by Mrs. Kennedy to assist with the decoration.

Different periods of the early republic and world history were selected as a theme for each room: the Federal style for the Green Room, French Empire for the Blue Room, American Empire for the Red Room, Louis XVI for the Yellow Oval Room, and Victorian for the president's study, renamed the Treaty Room. Antique furniture was acquired, and decorative fabric and trim based on period documents was produced and installed. The Kennedy restoration resulted in a more authentic White House of grander stature, which recalled the French taste of Madison and Monroe. In the Diplomatic Reception Room Jacqueline Kennedy installed an antique “Vue de l'Amérique Nord” wall paper which Zuber et cie designed in 1834. The wallpaper hung before on the walls of a mansion until 1961 when the house was demolished for a grocery store. Just before the demolition, the wallpaper was salvaged and sold to the White House.

The first White House guide book was produced under the direction of curator Lorraine Waxman Pearce with direct supervision from Jacqueline Kennedy. Sale of the guide book helped finance the restoration.

Here's the complete tour:



BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER

On St. Valentine's Day in 1556, Thomas Cranmer was declared a heretic.....

ARCHBISHOP THOMAS CRANMER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Six Wives of Henry VIII" (1970)

"Elizabeth R" (1971)

And in the "Cineverse":
Henry VIII and His Six Wives (1972)
(which also brought back Keith Mitchel as King Henry VIII)

AS PLAYED BY:
Bernard Hepton

Because of the three different productions in which he played Cranmer (one of which had several episodes in which he played the role), Bernard Hepton is the official portrayer of the doomed Archbishop in Toobworld.

From Wikipedia:
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from union with the Holy See. Along with Thomas Cromwell, he supported the principle of Royal Supremacy, in which the king was considered sovereign over the Church within his realm.

During Cranmer's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury, he was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the reformed Church of England. Under Henry's rule, Cranmer did not make many radical changes in the Church, due to power struggles between religious conservatives and reformers. However, he succeeded in publishing the first officially authorised vernacular service, the "Exhortation" and "Litany".

When Edward came to the throne, Cranmer was able to promote major reforms. He wrote and compiled the first two editions of the "Book of Common Prayer", a complete liturgy for the English Church. With the assistance of several Continental reformers to whom he gave refuge, he developed new doctrinal standards in areas such as the eucharist, clerical celibacy, the role of images in places of worship, and the veneration of saints. Cranmer promulgated the new doctrines through the "Prayer Book", the "Homilies" and other publications.

Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy when Mary I, a Roman Catholic, came to the throne. Imprisoned for over two years and under pressure from the Church authorities, he made several recantations and apparently reconciled himself with the Roman Catholic faith. However, on the day of his execution, he dramatically withdrew his recantations and died a martyr. His legacy lives on within the Church of England through the "Book of Common Prayer" and the "Thirty-Nine Articles", an Anglican statement of faith derived from his work.

BCnU!

NIP IT IN THE BUD: THE FIFE & ZONK SOCIETY

On 'White Collar', Neal Caffrey is a con artist turned consultant for the FBI. When he asked his "handler", Agent Peter Burke, if he could run with the lead on a case, Burke snarked:

"Run with it? No, Barney Fife, you can walk very slowly."

This doesn't necessarily have to be a Zonk, just because a character on 'White Collar' mentions a character (and one of the most famous characters in all of Toobworld!) from 'The Andy Griffith Show'.

After Barney left the Mayberry police force (which consisted of only Sheriff Andy Taylor and his cousin Barney) in 1965, he moved to Raleigh where he became a detective. Who can say what may have happened during that time which could have thrust Ol' Barn into the national spotlight? There were some references in later episodes when Barney would return for a visit (and on 'Mayberry RFD' when he came back for Andy's wedding) that Raleigh didn't turn out as Barney had hoped. So any such headline-making case would have to have occurred after those appearances. Or it could have happened more recently, at any time after Barney had come back to live in Mayberry as seen in 1986 in a reunion TV movie. I'm afraid that such an event that would get Barney Fife into the national headlines and on the various news networks around the country was probably based on Barney's natural ineptitude. This would splain why his name is often used in a derogatory manner. (A "Barney Fife" would be a reference to inept law enforcement, in the same way as a "Lewinsky" would refer to a specific sex act. Just thought I'd throw that out there.....)

So all in all, it would not be a discrepancy, a Zonk as it were, for Peter to call Neal a "Barney Fife". We just don't know the reason why Barney became so nationally well-known.

Well, as far as that Zonk is concerned, I think I was able to nip it; nip it in the bud!

I could use a Lewinsky after that....

BCnU!

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES: JON BON JOVI

Jon Bon Jovi appeared as himself in the latest episode of '30 Rock'. And during his opening scene, NBC's "Artist In Residence" was seen as part of the cast of 'Top Chef' and anchoring the NBC Nightly News.



But those won't count towards his League of Themselves application into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame - those are the televersions of those television shows.

But he does have an episode of 'Las Vegas' under his belt so he's 2/3rds of the way there.

He has an impressive body of work as other characters however, especially his run on 'Ally McBeal'. But it's unlikely those will ever get crossed over to other TV series, so appearing as himself will be his best chance for such an - ahem! - "honor".....

BCnU!

CHARLIE: SCHLEMIEL; BABY: SCHLEMAZEL

I realize that I'm not going to be around forever to be the Caretaker of Toobworld. So I really shouldn't plotz over what radical changes various TV shows have in store for the future timeline of the TV Universe. (I do have to keep an eye on the events of the near future, though, as I've been doing since "the Eugenics Wars" of the late 1990s.....)

Maybe that's why I like to find those little trivial nuggets that don't mean very much as far as present-day Toobworld is concerned, but which can provide shading and background for the Toobworld of Tomorrow, or for its inhabitants on a more personal level.

That's what I thought after seeing this sequence near the end of the latest episode of 'Two And A Half Men' ("Aye, Aye, Captain"):

For someone with a sick sense of humor like me, that was pure comedy gold - although I don't think it probably was that color.

But it got me thinking - someday, maybe twenty years or so down the line on some TV show, there will be a young man - or even woman! - a twenty-something, who'll hail from the Malibu area of California.

Why can't we make the claim that as an infant, a strange man vomited on them in their carriage?

It's not something that ever has to come up within their TV series (which will probably be beamed right into the cortex of the brain thanks to special implants). In fact, I'm sure it's the type of fact you want to keep hidden from your friends.

Whoever's going to pick up the Toobworld torch and run with it after I'm gone, just a note of advice: don't waste this opportunity on just any TV character that comes along that might fit the bill. Make it somebody special so that the theoretical link between that show and 'Two And A Half Men' is worth it.

Just sayin', is all.....

As for the subject heading, this is the definition I was once given by a friend who passed away last year, Harry Edelstein the Matzoh King of Broadway: "A schlemiel is the guy who spills the soup. A schlemazel is the guy he spills the soup on."

Thanks, Harry!

BCnU!

PS:
Unfortunately, CBS.com won't let me embed that scene or the episode, but you can watch it at their site. (Jump ahead to the 19:00 minute mark for the scene......)

AS SEEN ON TV: EDWARD BURLESON

Traditionally we save the Western-themed historical figures for the month of August But with the passing of stuntman and actor Robert F. "Bobby" Hoy the other day at the age of 82, we're making an exception for one of the important men in Texas history......

COLONEL EDWARD BURLESON

AS SEEN IN:
"Houston: The Legend Of Texas"

AS PLAYED BY:
Robert F. Hoy

In 1841 [Burleson] was elected vice president of the republic. In the spring of 1842, when the Mexican army under Rafael Vásquez invaded Texas, Burleson met with volunteers at San Antonio, where they elected him to command. Houston sent Alexander Somervell to take over, and Burleson handed the command to him. Burleson then made his famous speech before the Alamo: "though Thermopolae had her messenger of defeat, the Alamo had none." In the fall of 1842 Mexican general Adrián Woll invaded Texas. Burleson raised troops for defense and again yielded the command to General Somervell, sent by Houston. In 1844 Burleson made an unsuccessful bid for the presidency against Anson Jones. In December 1845 he was elected senator from the Fifteenth District to the First Legislature of the state of Texas. He was unanimously elected president pro tem.

During the Mexican War Burleson and Governor James P. Henderson went to Monterrey, Nuevo León; Burleson was appointed senior aide-de-camp, held the rank of major, and served as a spy during the siege of Monterrey and at Buena Vista. In 1847 Burleson, Eli T. Merriman, and William Lindsey surveyed and laid out the town of San Marcos. In 1848 Burleson introduced a resolution to establish Hays County and donated the land for the courthouse. He chaired the Committee on Military Affairs, which awarded a $1,250,000 grant to Texas for Indian depredations.

[seen here with Sam Houston, played by Sam Elliott]

Burleson died of pneumonia on December 26, 1851, in Austin, while serving as senator from the Twenty-first District. He was still president pro tem. He was given a Masonic burial at the site of the future State Cemetery, the land for which was purchased by the state of Texas in his honor in 1854.

Here's the full obituary.....
BCnU!

BBC IDENT QUESTION

Yesterday I asked if the man pictured here in the BBC Drama 2010 promo could have been Bernard Cribbins. (The picture wasn't much clearer in the quick snippet we saw of him.)

Apparently, I may have guessed correctly - at least as far as the first name goes. Based on this press release from the BBC about 'Five Days', it may be Bernard Hill.....

Of course, that press release came out last year, so who knows? Maybe they did add in Mr. Cribbins since then. But as the description of that character seems pretty integral to the plot, then I think it would have been cast long before the release came out.

We'll just have to wait and view....

BCnU!

SNEAK PEEK: "LATE"

Later tonight, NBC will be unveiling a new show called 'Late' - about a bunch of strangers whose elevator crashed on a mysterious floor in the building.

Jimmy Fallon presented a preview of 'Late' on 'The Late Show' this week.....



BCnU!