NEW FANTASY LEAGUE PLAYERS

George Takei and Katee Sackhoff joined Oprah Winfrey, Jim Nantz, Sinbad, Betty White, Abe Vigoda, and Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 in a very exclusive Toobworld club: they played fantasy versions of themselves in a TV show.

This time around, Howard Wolowitz of 'The Big Bang Theory' settled down in his bed's leopard skin patterned sheets, wearing silk pajamas (and probably with some lotion), to enjoy a masturbation fantasy with the star of 'Battlestar Galactica'. But then his ex-girlfriend Bernadette showed up in the fantasy and Howard confessed that he was confused.

That's when the gay actor who played the 'Star Trek' helmsman appeared, requesting the chance to join in. ("I'm not that kind of confused," groused Howard.)

Best part of this dream sequence is that neither of the shows that made these two actors "science fiction icons" (as Sackhoff described them) was mentioned. Had they been, their Zonks could have been easily splained away.

1) 'Star Trek' - Someone came back from the Future and gave Gene Roddenberry incredibly detailed information about Starfleet, right down to the type of actors to cast to get the characters just right. George Takei just happened to bear an incredible resemblance to the real Hikaru Sulu.

2) 'Battlestar Galactica' - This remake belongs in an alternate TV dimension, but if it's mentioned by Toobworld citizens like Wolowitz (or Dwight Schrute of 'The Office'), then it's a reference to the TV adaptation of the real life events seen in the original version of the series. (Probably it was funded by that same world security bureau (which I've dubbed "UNreel") responsible for the TV adaptations of 'I Spy', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', and 'Doctor Who' in order to deflect any investigations into the real circumstances. Katee Sackhoff was one of the actors hired to play one of the original people involved in that ragtag fleet's journey to Earth. (Making the character of Starbuck a female helped to confuse the issue of reality for "the event".)

Oh Myyyyyyyy!

* Here's the list of the sources for those other fantasy appearances:
Oprah - '30 Rock'
Sinbad & Rob Thomas - 'It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia'
Jim Nantz - 'How I Met Your Mother'
Betty White & Abe Vigoda - Snickers blipvert

MISSILES OF OCTOBER: KENNETH O'DONNELL

The second annual ASOTV salute to the people involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis begins with a look at the lesser-known, but no less important, historical figures who advised President Kennedy.....

KENNETH O'DONNELL

AS SEEN IN:
"The Missiles Of October"

AS PLAYED BY:
Stewart Moss

From Wikipedia:
Kenneth Patrick O'Donnell (March 4, 1924 - September 9, 1977), known as Kenny, was a top aide to U.S. President John F. Kennedy and part of the group of Kennedys' close advisors called the "Irish Mafia". He served as organizer and director of Kennedy's presidential campaign schedule in 1960, as Kennedy's special assistant and appointments secretary 1961-1963, as Lyndon Johnson's Presidential Aide 1963-1965, as campaign manager for Robert Kennedy in the 1968 presidential election campaign, and as campaign manager for Hubert Humphrey after Bobby Kennedy's assassination.

In 1958, O'Donnell became a member of JFK’s staff, and in 1960 he was the organizer and director of John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign schedule. The following year he became Kennedy's special assistant and Appointments Secretary. In this role he functioned in many ways as Kennedy's Chief of Staff, a position that Kennedy never filled during his tenure in the White House.

O'Donnell unofficially advised Kennedy during the planning for the Bay of Pigs invasion as well as during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and was an early critic of the Vietnam War, advising Kennedy to bring an end to America's involvement in the conflict.

O'Donnell arranged JFK's trip to Dallas in November 1963, and was in a car just behind the president's when Kennedy was assassinated. It was an enormous blow to O'Donnell, who long blamed himself for the death of the president.

It was my impression that O'Donnell had the greatest influence in shaping the President's most important decisions. He was able to set aside his own prejudices against individuals and his own ideological commitments (I would rate him a moderate Democrat) and appraise the alternatives with total objectivity. It was impossible to categorize O'Donnell, as White House observers did with other staff members, as either a "hawk" or a "dove" on foreign policy, or a Stevenson liberal or Truman conservative on civil rights. JFK gave extra weight to O'Donnell's opinions because he knew he had no personal cause to argue. Ken had only one criterion: Will this action help or hurt the President? And that, for O'Donnell, was another way of asking: Will it help or hurt the country?
- Pierre Salinger

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING BARBARA BILLINGSLEY

Just a few videos to remember the All-American mother in Toobworld....

And two videos that played upon her image as June Cleaver:

It's like Tony Dow said on CNN yesterday: She'll be as well known for that scene from "Airplane!" as she will be for 'Leave It To Beaver'.

Good night and may God bless.

BCnU......

TONIGHT, ON "BORED TO DEATH"

I'm really enjoying the Bizarro Brooklyn seen in 'Bored To Death' on HBO, and all of those great characters inhabiting it (especially Jim Norton's thug and Patton Oswalt's weapon supplier from last week).

Here are a couple of clips for the episode that will be airing tonight on HBO, each of them featuring a special guest star.

First up, we have John Hodgman in his recurring role as Jonathan's nemesis, Louis:

And then a return visit by one of my faves, Mary Kay Place:

TODAY'S "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" PREVIEW

We've got a slew of videos to share today about the episode of 'Boardwalk Empire' which is airing tonight.....

First, here are a couple of scenes (one of which is somewhat timely as we head towards the World Series.....)








EPISODE 5 PREVIEW




EPISODE 4 RECAP




INSIDE EPISODE 4: PART ONE




INSIDE EPISODE 4: PART TWO




INSIDE EPISODE 4: PART THREE




INSIDE EPISODE 4: PART FOUR




BUILDING BABETTE'S

AS SEEN ON TV: EDITH DAY

I thought I was out of historical figures to feature from 'Boardwalk Empire', but last week's episode proved me wrong....

EDITH DAY

AS SEEN IN:
'Boardwalk Empire'

AS PLAYED BY:
Erin McGrath

From Wikipedia:
Edith Day (April 10, 1896 - May 1, 1971) was an American actress best known for her roles in musicals.

In 1919, she became a major star playing the title role in Irene. Five months into the run, she departed the cast to create the role in the London production. Embraced by the London critics, she decided to remain there after the show closed and went on to become the first lady of West End musicals, with triumphs in Rose Marie, The Desert Song and Show Boat.

Day retired from acting in the 1930s. In 1960 she briefly returned to the stage in Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings, later appearing in the London production of Coward's musical Sail Away at the Savoy Theatre in 1962.

Day was married three times, to theatre producer Carle Carleton, actor Pat Somerset and Henry Horne. Her only son died in World War II. She died in London at the age of 75.

A cocktail is named for her, made with dry gin, grapefruit juice, sugar, and an egg white. 'Boardwalk Empire' once again rewrote history, unless she made trips back to the United States on occasion. As the show would have it, a year after moving to Great Britain, she was back in Atlantic City to entertain at Nucky Thompson's birthday bash.

BCnU!

LIVE FROM TOOBWORLD, IT'S "30 ROCK"! (TWICE BAKED)

Rob Buckley, who runs the fourth most popular TV blog in the UK*, has put together a series of NBC clips showing the differences between the East Coast and West Coast versions of the live broadcast of '30 Rock' this week.

My friend Sean over in Taiwan watched both of them and he preferred the West Coast version. But that was also the first one he watched. While I naturally watched the East Coast version first and preferred that one. (Tracy Morgan didn't flub his line the first time around; and the black hand transplant was funnier than the PSA with the woman's hand.)

It's like reading a book and then watching the movie made from it, or vice versa - Order determines Preference.

O'Bviously the discrepancies between both demand a televisiological splainin and there's an easy one. The East Coast version is how the episode played out on the original Toobworld timeline. But after the 'Primeval' reboot of that timeline, the West Coast version is how it now played out. For the most part it remained the same, only

As for the difference in its look from how the series normally appears? The show provided its own splainin: the live on tape look and feel was all an alcohol-deprived point of view from Jack Donaghy. That doesn't quite splain why scenes in the cockpit with Carol also had that look, but it doesn't really matter. Lots of TV series in the Earth Prime-Time universe have different looks to them, based on being taped or filmed, but in the end that's just perception. They still share the same world.

Anyhoo, Rob put a lot of work into compiling those NBC clips and I thought it would be nice to re-direct traffic from my site over to "The Medium Is Not Enough" so that you can watch them there. (Not that he needs my help - his site is the fourth most popular TV blog in the UK, after all*.)

Check out the differences here:
http://www.the-medium-is-not-enough.com/2010/10/30_rock_live_-_the_differences_between_east_and_we.php

As one of the two fake commercials during the broadcast, Dr. Drew Baird received a black convict's hand in a transplant the first time around, only to get a woman's hand in the new timeline. (And both of them were possessed, a la "The Hand Of Borgus Weems" from 'Night Gallery'.)

For the differences between the two PSA's with Doctor Baird and his new hands, take a trip over to the Vancouver Sun:
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Video+Jonn+Hamm+hilarious+Rock+commmercials/3678407/story.html

BCnu!

* And that's official! You can check out "The Medium Is Not Enough" for yourself. You'll find the link there to the left, Tooblings.

VIDEO SATURDAY POTPOURRI

This was the water-cooler clip after last Sunday's episode of 'The Simpsons'. But I'll bet the majority of the audience had no clue who Banksy is. I only knew he was an artist, but nothing else......

This is my favorite Tom Jones song.....

Back when TV Land was actually enjoyable all the time (which means before there were reality shows and theatrically released movies), they created their own version of what life was like back when the Boomers were a hell of a lot younger.....

Jonathan Winters has always been one of my idols. One of the most daring performers out there - because he let the audience into his mind.....

Here are the credits to his old series:

God bless Don Pardo, still going strong in his 90's! He helped out with the promos for the live edition of '30 Rock', which probably primed the audience that it would like a 'Saturday Night Live' sitcom.

We don't often get to see that - despite what an 'SNL' sketch once claimed - Don Pardo is more than just a voice......

BCnU!

THE CW'S CROSS-COUNTRY CROSSOVER

I've never seen an episode of 'Life Unexpected' before - that genre just isn't my thing, and I'm way outside the intended demographic. And yet I just watched as much as I could* of the latest episode because it had a crossover with its lead-in, 'One Tree Hill'.

(* Don't take that for the way it sounds. The site where I was trying to watch it claimed I was already online there for 65 minutes for free and if I wanted to see more, I think they wanted me to pay. Bleep that! And besides, I was only in that site for about twenty minutes tops.)

Anyhoo.....

Ryan Thomas hosted the Sugar Magnolia Music festival for the Portland radio station where he hosts "Morning Madness". Two of the performers at the concert were Haley James Scott and Mia Catalano. They came to Portland, Oregon, from North Caroline (where their own TV series 'One Tree Hill' is located.)

When Cate Cassidy met Haley at the festival, the two learned that they share similar pasts, having both spent their teenage years as nerdy overachievers who got pregnant in high school. Later, Cate reached out to Haley for advice when one of Cate’s secrets got out.

In addition to Galeotti and Voegele, the festival’s other music performers include Sarah McLachlan, Ben Lee, and Rain Perry. (Rain Perry's song "Beautiful Tree" serves as the theme song for 'Life Unexpected'. It's apparently a testament to the power of blood relations.) So it was an episode rich in appearances by the League of Themselves, music department.

First up, one of Ben Lee's songs at the festival:

Here's Sarah McLachlan as she performed "Forgiveness" to cap off the festival......

Here's a short clip of Haley unexpectedly singing at the Sugar Magnolia Music Festival:

The episode also supplied an in-joke, something David Bianculli (Check out his site "TV Worth Watching" linked on the left.) calls "Extras". Emma and Baze were finally getting to know each other, breaking past their previous conceptions of each other.....

Emma: "Say you could conjure up your ideal woman from scratch, who would she be? You know what, let me guess...pint sized, big eyes, looks like that chick from 'Roswell'?"

And the joke? One of the stars of 'Life Unexpected' is Shirl Appleby, who plays Cate Cassidy, the woman Baze is fixated on. She starred in 'Roswell' as Liz Parker back at the turn of the millennium, so Emma pretty much nailed that description!

Haley and Mia are now just one TV series away from becoming eligible for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, and there are plenty of opportunities still available on the CW - '90210', 'Gossip Girl', 'Hellcats', even 'The Vampire Diaries'. ('Smallville' takes place in 'The West Wing' TV dimension, and I don't think 'Supernatural' and 'Nikita' would be good fits.)

So, it's not a show I'll return to, but it kept me pleasantly entertained with the crossover, the musical performances, and that in-joke. Oh! And a pozz'ble theory of relateeveety for the character played by Cynthia Stevenson......

"Bent or broken
It's the family tree
Each branch a part of a part of me."
Rain Perry
"Beautiful Tree"

BCnU!

"THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW" - A LOOK BACK

Thanks to Mick Clews and the British appreciation society for the work of Phil Silvers, I was finally able to see some examples of what the second Phil Silvers sitcom was like.

Apparently, CBS cancelled the 'Bilko' show (officially, 'You'll Never Get Rich') so that they could bring on a new sitcom which they had more control over - especially its profits. But it failed within a year, probably because the audience still wanted more of Ernie Bilko.

The character of Harry Grafton wasn't too far off the mark from Sgt. Bilko, - this time a grafter in a factory rather than an army base. But some of the elements were off in fantasy land; it was just too much. And when it focused more on his home life, there was no way I could believe those two kids could be his children. (Maybe Elena Verdugo's character as his wife cheated on him. Or, more likely, they adopted.)

See for yourself what the show was like with these excerpts:

















And then there's this song, "The Bilko Growl", by Silvers' son-in-law. Phil Silvers recorded his bits shortly before his death.




Thanks for sharing that with us, Mick!

BCnU!