UNSEEN ON TV: MARGARET THATCHER

'MURDER, SHE WROTE'

"ONE WHITE ROSE FOR DEATH"

In October of 1986, Jessica Fletcher attended a concert recital in Washington, DC, which led to political defections and, of course, to murder.  The Prime Minister of Great Britain was also in attendance at the concert but was never seen nor mentioned by name. 

Here are the snippets of dialogue from the episode which concerned the Prime Minister.

Jessica Fletcher:  Well, it won't be much of a stay, but when Geoffrey told me about my invitation to the party tonight, I couldn't resist.
Andrew Wyckham:  Party?

Jessica:  Followed by a reception at the estate of Senator Constable with none other than the Prime Minister as the guest of honor.

First Secretary:  After that assassination attempt in Australia last week, most of our security is elsewhere this evening protecting the Prime Minister.

First Secretary:  I am operating under the direct orders of the Ambassador who will be here shortly as soon as he is certain the Prime Minister is secure for the evening.

Andrew:  I'm going to have a word with the Ambassador about him.   Well, it's after 2:00.   Should've returned by now.
Jessica:  He's on his way, Andrew.
First Secretary:  They just put the prime minister on a plane back to England.
Andrew:  Did they? Well, I thought the P.M. wasn't supposed to leave until Tuesday.

Gender was never addressed either when discussing the Prime Minister.  So I think it's fair to say we're not discussing a fictional Prime Minister of Great Britain.  Instead, it has to be the televersion of Margaret Thatcher who was in attendance at the concert hall that October evening in 1986.  And that's a good thing, since it means we don't have to silly walk the run of 'Murder, She Wrote' to some other TV dimension if they tried to pass off anybody else, especially a man, as the Prime Minister in 1986.  After all, she was such a commanding figure in on the world stage, that most TV shows of that time would have made reference to her as the resident of Number Ten Downing Street rather than some fictional character.  (It wouldn't be until 'The West Wing' came along for TV shows to create fictional presidents and other world leaders to involve in their plotlines.)

Here are some examples that Thatcher did exist as the P.M. in the main Toobworld.

Doctor Who
Episode: Tooth and Claw (2006)
"'The Muppet Movie'", *love* that film. Margaret Thatcher, urgh."

Last Tango in Halifax
Episode: Episode #1.3 (2012)
"You're going to tell me next you voted for Margaret Thatcher."

Stargate: Atlantis
"Margaret Thatcher wasn't creepy. OK - well, maybe a little. In fact, she was like an aunt of mine - same hairstyle, facial structure, only my aunt was much taller, and remarkably hirsute. Oddest thing: she had to shave twice a day."

Waiting for God
Episode: Diana's Diet (1994)
Tom: "Oh, for goodness sake, he was also the man who said that Margaret Thatcher would be prime minister!"
Diana: "Margaret Thatcher *was* prime minister."

Drop the Dead Donkey
Episode: A New Dawn (1990)"A teensy bit? This bear's visited more disaster scenes than Margaret Thatcher."

[Information thanks to IMDb]

Mrs. Thatcher was portrayed on TV countless times and we could almost invariably accept any one of those actresses to have been the P.M. had she appeared in the episode.  In the end, it doesn't really matter as historical figures are given a pass in the main Toobworld as to the differences in their appearances due to recasting.  We at Toobworld Central chalk it up to the point of view perspectives of the fictional characters who observe them.

BCnU!

MISSING LINKS - 'MURDER, SHE WROTE' & 'ALIEN NATION'

 "ALIEN NATION" - THE MOVIE

'ALIEN NATION' - THE TV SERIES

"Alien Nation" as a movie debuted in 1988.  'Alien Nation' as a TV series premiered the next year.  But the events within the reality of the TV Universe did not begin until 1991, when the space ship filled with rebellious Tenctonese slaves crashed in the desert outside of Los Angeles.  The series jumps ahead to about 1995 when the Newcomers (disparagingly called "Slags" and "Spongeheads" by haters) were somewhat integrated into society at large in L.A.

Despite the huge impact that the series would have had on Toobworld in general (but specifically on TV shows set in Los Angeles - like the ABC 'Columbo' after 1989, for example), I believe 'Alien Nation' can be part of Earth Prime-Time.  As to why we don't see them in the main Toobworld anymore?  I splained that away at some point in the blog with most of the Tenctonese relocated to an uninhabited planet, thanks to the Doctor and his bigger on the inside TARDIS.

Unfortunately, there are Zonks, in which other TV shows mention 'Alien Nation' as a TV show when they should be sharing the same world.  Luckily there are only two that I've found that need to be disabled.  (I did find two other Zonks, but they were references from 'Smallville' which takes place in the 'West Wing' dimension.)

Here are the Zonks:

'Saved by the Bell': "Date Auction" (1991)
Lisa tells Brian Watkins that "Alien Nation" was her favourite television series.

'Nip/Tuck': "Willow Banks" (2010)
Willow is called this after she shaves her head.

That second one is considered by the IMDb to be a reference to the movie.  Not that it matters for the Toobworld Dynamic.  The 1988 movie exists as reality in the Cineverse, but for Earth Prime-Time it was a movie made about the "real life" events.  As for the 'Saved By The Bell' reference to a TV show... again, that could have been made within the TV Universe to depict what happened when the Tenctonese arrived and how they adapted to life among the humans.

And now we have proof that such a TV show about the Tenctonese was made in Toobworld.  And that it looks like it accepts that the Newcomers lived in that world.....

'Murder, She Wrote'

"Film Flam"

In 1995, years after the Tenctonese arrival, Jessica Fletcher was visiting Monolith Studios in Hollywood to oversee negotiations for the option on one of her books.  At one point she was in the studio commissary food line and followed an actor in full make-up for his role:

As an alien, the actor was not an exact match for a Tenctonese.  There could have been a very good reason for that - although as a news story in the public domain the Tenctonese could have been given a fictional treatment as they were, the producers of this TV show might have altered their appearance, perhaps even changed their alien race's name, so that they could focus on a particular Tenctonese individual's story.

And that Newcomer was probably LAPD homicide detective George Francisco.

As we can see, the actor playing the alien is in full makeup.  He would never have been allowed to get that far had he not already been in costume.  So that black suit must be the costume.  Doesn't he look as though he was an alien police detective?

So in Toobworld, the 'Alien Nation' TV show was based on the actual Tenctonese, and apparently ran longer than the series did in the real world, which was off the air by May of 1990.  But that's supposition based on the 'Saved By The Bell' quote happening in 1991.

If anybody knows the name of the extra who played that alien on 'Murder, She Wrote', let me know.  I'd like to find out some other productions in which he was one of the "atmosphere people".  Who knows?  We might be able to give his actor character a name and then link him to other shows....

BCnU!

POTUS TIME

'MADAM SECRETARY'
"THE SHOW MUST GO ON"

Toobworld Takeaways:

I watched this show every episode last season, but I don't think it was ever established when the timeline for that dimension began. In the second season premiere, we learned from the addled President Pro Tempore of the Senate Theodore Gates that both Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan had been the POTUS in that world. So when did the diversion begin? 

At least with this information, we know definitely that 'Madam Secretary' can't be happening in the same world as 'The West Wing' because that line of succession stretched back to before Reagan's term in office. Maybe even before Jimmy Carter's - back to General Owen Lassiter (whom I always pictured as being played by Johnny Carson for some reason.....)

BCnU!

THIS DAY IN THE CINEVERSE (AND TOOBWORLD)

Today's the big day!  

At least in the Cineverse.....

In "Back To The Future Part II", Marty McFly travels to October 21, 2015 and a good portion of the movie takes place during that time.  

Now, the "BTTF" movies have been absorbed into Earth Prime-Time because of the TV appearances of Doc Brown and Marty McFly, mostly in commercials.  But because so many things that "Back To The Future II" predicted would come to pass by today will not be happening, not even in Toobworld, then we have to assume that future timeline was somehow altered by some TV show.  I'm guessing it was because of the actions of the Doctor or Sam Beckett or Nick Cutter (when he went back into the primeval past.)  

But it must have lasted long enough for Hollywood to become aware of it, or perhaps like Cisco in 'The Flash, somebody had memories of that alternate timeline and decided to make those visions into a movie.  And in the revised timeline of Toobworld, "Back To The Future II" as a movie was seen by plenty of TV characters.

And the take-away for most of those characters?  For the most part, hoverboards.

THE MOVIE 

Home and Away: Episode #1.587 (1990)
Vicki asks Paul if he wants to see this with her at the cinema

The Tick: Couples (2001)
Friendly Fire invites the Tick and Arthur to a film festival of all three "Back to the Future" movies.

Chuck: Chuck Versus the Business Trip (2011)
DVD given to Morgan

The Big Bang Theory: The Hofstadter Insufficiency (2013)
Sheldon has a nightmare about Leonard mixing up his "Back to the Future" Parts II and III DVDs and cases.

The Big Bang Theory: The Focus Attenuation (2014)
Heard playing on TV

Coronation Street: Episode #1.8636 (2015)
Todd mentions the film.

Mr. Robot: eps1.0_hellofriend.mov (2015)
DVD seen

Mike & Mike: Episode dated 6 October 2015 (2015)
mentioned by Mike Golic

PLOT POINTS

In Plain Sight: High Priced Spread (2008)
Marshall discusses an analogy to what he says is Back to the Future, but he is actually describing the plot point from "Back to the Future Part II", where Biff Tannen gets a book with sports scores from the future

True Jackson, VP: ReTRUEnion (2009)
Justin: If I was a slacker, would I know how to recalibrate a flux capacitor? 

Ryan: That's from "Back to the Future", it was on last night!

Pastor Mike Online: Episode #1.49 (2012)
Mike says that he knows the world is not going to end in 2012 because Marty McFly time traveled to the year 2015.

Supernatural: Time After Time (2012)
"He's using the Biff strategy!"

THE POSTER

Ha die Pa!: De Advertentie (1992)
Poster on wall in Matthijs' room

Community: Home Economics (2009)
Abed has a Back to the Future Part II poster on his dorm room wall.

The Goldbergs: I Rode a Hoverboard! (2014)  

Mentioned by the narrator, Adam has a Back to the Future Part II movie poster on his bedroom wall, and the plot revolves around Adam saying that he broke his arm whilst riding a hoverboard.

Speaking of which.....

THE HOVERBOARD

Da Ali G Show: Politics (2003)
Ali asks someone if they've seen this movie when talking about hover-boards.

Eureka: Blink (2006)
The second shot of the episode includes a sign that reads "Hover boarding prohibited".

Psych: Think Tank (2010)
Shawn asks, "Where is the hoverboard technology that we all saw in 'Back to the Future II' over 20 years ago?"

The Big Bang Theory: The Wheaton Recurrence (2010)
Sheldon makes a reference to the hoverboard.

18 to Life: Miss Conceived (2011)
Jessie tells Ava that she wants to have children in the future, the distant future, one with hoverboards.

A to Z: A Is for Acquaintances (2014)
Andrew questions Lea Thompson about Hoverboards

MISCELLANEOUS REFERENCES

Brows Held High: Primer (2012)  

"This makes 'Back to the Future II' look like the 'Terminator' series."

Lost Girl: Those Who Wander (2013) 
Kenzi says to Bruce "Roads. Where we're going, we don't need roads."

Moone Boy: Boylé Boylé Boylé (2014)
Padraig and Crunchie Haystacks dress in Marty McFly and Doc Brown's outfits from the film.

BCnU!

TUESDAY NEWS DAY - SPANISH ECHO

 

I don't know if any Spanish language drama series can be considered a tele-novela, but another one has been bought by an American production company to be adapted for the English-speaking audience of the United States.

The show is titled 'Personal Motives' and is based on the 2005 series 'Motivos Personales'. That series is from the same company which also produced 'Los Misterios de Laura' and I would hope you can recognize that title to have been adapted into NBC's 'The Mysteries Of Laura'.

'Grey's Anatomy' actress Ellen Pompeo's production company "Calamity Jane" will make the adaptation, which will about a news anchor who is in the middle of her broadcast when she sees her husband live on the screen being arrested for murder. She then sets out to prove her husband innocent.

I've only seen one news story on 'Personal Motives' so far, leaving me with very little information... information... information... to go on. This means that I don't know how closely the adaptation will follow the original. It could go either way - earlier this year ABC brought a limited series adaptation of an Australian murder mystery called 'Secrets & Lies' which only had two major deviations from the original in that the lead detective on the American case was a woman, and the last names of those involved were homogenized to be generic in their sense of Americana. As for the ending, the ultimate killer in the case was basically the same in both stories. (But if you've seen either one, you know it was too good a resolution to abandon. However, at least in the American version, the killer was telegraphed right from the very first episode.)

As for the other route it could take, the most recent series that could serve as an example would be 'Broadchurch', which was adapted by FOX as 'Gracepoint'. There, the shocking revelation at the end of that mini-series started out as the same as in the original, with a lot of the same plot points along the way. But then, 'Gracepoint' kept going and provided a new twist to the solution of the case. I was glad for it, but I think it would have made for a more gripping conclusion if only the showrunners and the network that it should be a one-season and done series. Then they could have provided a shocking finale along the lines of Ira Levin's play and TV movie "Dr. Cook's Garden".

Maybe one day I'll write up that ending for you, Team Toobworld. For alls I know, I already have......

Pompeo's company has yet to announce casting for the pilot, and it's unclear how committed ABC is in getting the show on the air. But the original series ran for two seasons in Spain and swept that country's version of the Emmy Awards. (Nine wins - Best Series, writing, directing, actress and the overall cast.) If executive producer Andy Stern's scripts can deliver something of similar power, then it should attract a big name for the woman newscaster. And maybe ABC might shove a Shondaland show to another night in order to make room for this new series in the Thursday night lineup......

Since it's all up in the air for the time being, I've wasted too many key strokes on this story as it is. But I will end with this: I think the likelihood is good for both versions of this series to exist in Earth Prime-Time - the original in Tel-España and the other in Telemerica.

And that's the way it is.....

BOOK 'EM, TOOB-O: ECHOES IN MURDERS

WARNING!!!!  SPOILERS!!!!

'DEATH IN PARADISE'

"EPISODE 4.3"

The Sainte-Marie Heritage Society is celebrating the island's history with a traditional dinner but the members all end up with food poisoning and in the case of group president Francis Davison it is fatal. Suspects number Francis's teen-aged son Ryan, who argued with his father, club secretary Teresa Gower, who was embezzling funds, Francis's ex-mistress Inke and ex-military man Alan Burke, who left the group after a disagreement with Francis. Goodman must determine who is the killer whilst trying to fight his feelings for Camille.
- Written by don @ minifie-1

'THE ADVENTURES OF ELLERY QUEEN'

"THE ADVENTURE OF CAESAR'S LAST SLEEP"

Mobster Ralph Caesar survives a bombing attempt and plays dead, hiding out in a hotel room with two police guards. But he is found dead anyway, of poison. Furious crusading District Attorney Erwin Murphy accuses Inspector Queen and the two guards (including Velie) of serving poisoned chewing gum, the only thing the mobster had to dine on. Ellery thinks this unlikely because nobody opened the packet except Caeser, and starts looking for other ways the poison could have been administered.
- Written by Peter Harris

Because of their occupation outside of the Sainte-Marie Heritage Society, the murderer found inspiration for the plot to kill Francis Davison from reading about the murder of notorious mobster Ralph Caesar back in the 1940s.  It was an ingenious method that was hard to forget once learning of it.......

(Both plot summaries are from the IMDb)

BCnU!

VIDEO SUNDAY - WEDDING MARCH

That's a great song, but not necessarily one that comes to mind as an option for a wedding song.  But it's what was playing in the background when Cameron Tucker and Mitchell Pritchard exchanged vows at their ceremony.

MITCHELL & CAMERON GET MARRIED

Of course, it wasn't the original version that we heard......

Thanks to my brother Bill for noticing it as being a cover.

BCnU!

JUST IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN: O'BSERVATIONS ON TELE-ZOMBIES

I wish I had remembered where I found this summary of 'Z Nation'......

In 'Z Nation' season 2, three years have passed since the zombie virus gutted the country and team of everyday heroes must transport Murphy (Keith Allan) — the only known survivor of the plague — from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last and best hope for a vaccine, he also hides a dark secret that threatens them all.  

So I'm placing this series in Zombie Toobworld in the near future of 'The Walking Dead'.  Nothing about the viral lab needs to be known to the band at the center of the TWD action.

The timeline for Zombie Toobworld so far breaks down to this:

'Dead Set'

'Fear The Walking Dead'

'The Walking Dead'

'Z Nation'

As for 'iZombie', so far I don't think anything has happened that prohibits it from being part of the main Toobworld....

BCnU!

I chose that zombie picture because it made me think it could be the zombie version of "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".......

THE TELE-FOLKS DIRECTORY - "WEE JOAN" KEMP

'MURDER, SHE WROTE'
"FILM FLAM"

This is Joan Kemp.  In the 1940s, she was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, known to the Public as "Wee Joan Kemp".  By the time she was 12 years old*, Wee Joan had made a million dollars, but unfortunately her parents drank it away - the Jackie Coogan law be damned! - and by the time she entered her twenties, Joan Kemp was lapsing into obscurity.

Wee Joan Kemp's most famous character was known as Bubbles.  She was featured in a franchise of several movies, two of which were "Bubbles Goes West" and "Bubbles In Love".  That last film was probably her last as the character, as she was on the threshold of adulthood, soon to leave her teen years.

In 1960, when she was just turning twenty, Joan Kemp was cast in director Austin Young's last film, "Cry Of Destiny".  Young had always been a big budget director until "Cry Of Destiny", which he shot on a shoestring budget but he only completed three quarters of it.  But unfortunately he died under mysterious circumstances before he could finish it.  It would be almost thirty-five years before Elaine Brown, the daughter of Hollywood producer Boyce Brown, discovered the unfinished movie and was determined to finish it.  Her father agreed for Monolith Studios to finance the production (to the tune of 40 million dollars), spurred by a nostalgic rebirth of interest in Austin Young's life and career.

One of those obsessed with Young was a writer named Fritz Randall.  "the self-appointed expert on the great man's life and death" was working on a book about the director, focusing especially on his mysterious death which could have been suicide.  But Fritz was convinced it was murder.  However, before he could confirm his suspicions, Fritz Randall was also murdered in a similar fashion.

Joan Kemp was hoping that the revival of "Cry Of Destiny" would re-energize her career as well.  She had already begun filming a bit role in the latest Todd Paris movie, thanks to some small intervention by Boyce Brown.  It wasn't to be, however.  The solution to the deaths of both Austin Young and Fritz Randall threw all productions at Monolith Studios into turmoil and not many were restarted afterwards.  And that included the Todd Paris movie.

During those years "in the wilderness", Joan Kemp might have still continued to work, but not at the heights to which she was accustomed.  I suspect there were commercials, produced by the ad agency McMann & Tate; low-budget movies Boyce Brown was forced to make by the studio - movies that his daughter called "chop-socky turkeys".  Perhaps some of them might have been directed by another has-been, Cortland Evans.

At the lowest in her career, during the swinging sixties, Joan Kemp might even have participated in soft-core porn films filmed overseas in countries like Caronia and Glendorra where her reputation would not have been as well-known as it was in the States.  (There is real world precedence for this - see the career of Carroll Baker in Italy during the early 1970s.)

Joan Kemp is still alive, but it's doubtful that she is still in the business.  However, Wee Joan Kemp as Bubbles will be immortal......

BCnU!

* To make the timeline work, this is one case in which the character can't be the same age as the actor.  If Joan Kemp was the same age as Kim Darby, she would have been only about 13 years old when she made "Cry Of Destiny".  It doesn't work for the storylline.  So I think she was born in 1940, not 1947.

MISSING LINKS - THE TOOTH FAIRY IN CONNECTICUT

Continuing with the supernatural theme for this month......

Tooth Fairy on a budget, giving less in 2015

USA Today had this story on August 17, which was also covered by WFSB, Channel 3 in Hartford Ct., during their 11 pm news program.  And both of them treated the Tooth Fairy as being real, the same courtesy and respect they grant Santa Claus at Christmas time.

Here's an example from the USA Today story:

The most profitable area to lose a tooth is in the Northeast, where kids get an average of $3.56 per tooth — that's where the most kids get $5 and $20 bills, or more. The Tooth Fairy leaves an average of $3.13 in the Midwest, $3.09 in the West and $3.07 in the South.

In Toobworld, the Northeast is under the auspices of Mary the Tooth Fairy.  She brings legitimacy to the notion of Tooth Fairies (Teeth Fairies?) in the TV Universe with her appearance in the 'Bewitched' episode "Mary The Good Fairy".  (That wasn't one of her good days on the job, back in January of 1971.  Because she had a cold, Samantha Stephens - a witch who was at that time living in Westport, Ct. - gave her some brandy to help knock out the cold.  Unfortunately, it basically knocked out Mary too.  So, with Mary drunk on her fae butt, Samantha took on her responsibilities that night.)

So it's a technicality, but that news report on WFSB - and perhaps it was covered by other TV news outlets with the same sense of whimsy - can be connected to that episode of 'Bewitched'.

BCnU!