2015 TOOBITS AWARDS (PART TWO)

2015 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows. For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions. You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice. (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it. There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2015 can be considered. (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2015. It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld. (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:

THE BEST CROSSOVERS OF 2015

BEST CROSSOVER

"Jessie"

"Girl Meets World"

"I Didn't Do It"

"KC Undercover"

"Best Friends Whenever"

"Austin and Ally"

"Liv and Maddie"

All of them crossed over at a Central Park Halloween party in New York City.

BEST CROSSOVER PLOTLINE

'Cucumber' & 'Banana'
These shows must be seen in tandem as each episode overlaps and is interwoven with the other series.  There are no stunt plotlines, just slices of life.

BEST TOOBWORLD/CINEVERSE COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER

BEST TRIVIAL CROSSOVER

Batlet Plaza in 'Minority Report' is allegedly named after President Josiah Bartlet from 'The West Wing', placing that futuristic continuation of the movie in the same dimension as Aaron Sorkin's classic politico drama.

WORST TRIVIAL CROSSOVER
Judah Friedlander's wardrobe - 
'The Jim Gaffigan Show' & 'The Daily Show with Trevor Noah'
Why is it the worst?  It just shows that I pay way too much attention to the Glass Furnace.

BEST MULTIVERSAL CROSSOVER

'Limitless' & "Limitless"

BEST MULTIVERSAL TRIVIAL CROSSOVER
From Martin Ross: "You probably got this one, but on tonight's Flash, Joe West's ex announced she has MacGregor's Disease -- same fictional disease Mr. Freeze's wife and Alfred contracted in Batman and Robin."

BEST INTER-DIMENSIONAL CROSSOVER
'Saturday Night Live': 'Sesame Street' & 'Empire'

FIRST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR

'The Librarians' & 'The Murdoch Mysteries'
Dealing with Nicola Tesla's "death ray"

Forget that circled entry.  To its left and down two is "Tesla's Death Ray".  That was seen in the episode "The Tesla Effect" from 'The Murdoch Mysteries'

BEST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR

'Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries' & 'Lost'
In the episode "Death & Hysteria", one of the suspects was Dr. Wilbur Littleton.  Since the series is set in 1929 Australia, I'm staking a theory of relateeveety - Dr. Littleton is the great grandfather of Claire Littleton.  Of course this means Dr. Littleton has a son whom we never met, or his daughter Jemima had a child out of wedlock and gave him the family name.

BEST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER

State Farm with the Coneheads
There were several options, but this brought the Coneheads into Earth Prime-Time

BEST COMMERCIAL/SERIES CROSSOVER

EARTH PRIME-TIME

'Smirnoff' - 'Silicon Valley'
"What Kind Of Night Is It?"

SKITLANDIA

State Farm with the Coneheads

THE TOONIVERSE
Geico with Dora the Explorer

STOP-MOTION WORLD (NEEDS A COOL NAME!!!!!
AT&T AND "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"

THEORETICAL
'Orbit Gum' - 'New Girl'

With Damon Wayans, Jr. having left 'New Girl' as Coach, who's to say this isn't Coach being the playa we knew he is?

BEST CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM

'The Librarians' & "Buckaroo Banzai Across The Eighth Dimension""Next order of business... motion to allow lupin membership for both the Guild of Fictional Entities and the World Crime League on a provisional basis."

BEST THEORETICAL CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM

'The Librarians' & "The Hobbit"
According to the show, Tolkienesque dragons still existed in Europe.

BEST REALITY PROGRAMMING CROSSOVER

Bill Murray, 'The Late Show with David Letterman' & 'The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'

After appearing on the last show with Letterman, Bill walked over to the MSNBC studios, sort of drunk after doing shots on Letterman's show.....

BEST TOONIVERSE CROSSOVER

The 'Rick & Morty' couch gag for the season finale of 'The Simpsons'

BEST ONLINE SPIN-OFF

'Schitt's Creek' webisodes

2015 TOOBITS AWARDS (PART ONE)

2015 TOOBITS AWARDS

It's that time of year again, when we all make lists and think back over the past year, in whatever field of interest concerns us, and chronicle the high points and the lows. For the past few years I've been presenting this compilation as an awards show, the Toobits, which of course celebrates my two bits about Toobworld.

As it is with any such list you'll find in TV columns across the country these last few weeks, these are my opinions. You're welcome to your own and I hope you'll share them, but I'm sticking to my weapons of choice. (It could be you won't see something that was a favorite of yours because I just never got around to seeing it. There's only so much time in the world - even for a do-nothing-else-anyway sort like me! - and I've only got the two eyes, even if they do operate independantly of each other at times.)

Unlike the Emmy Awards which will just keep handing out trophies to some shows forever, only shows, characters and what-not that debuted in 2015 can be considered. (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2015. It could be a few years old, but if it's my first time seeing it, it's new.)

This one-time-only rule includes characters who have been recast; those are still the same characters who already exist in Toobworld. (But there were a few notable appearances that deserved honorable mention, and they get it.)

So without further ado, let's have at it:

BEST NEW TV SHOW

IMPORT

'Dicte'

DOMESTIC

'Jessica Jones' & 'Daredevil'
I see them as parts of a whole....

WORST NEW TV SHOW

'Man Seeking Woman'

BEST TV MOVIE
"The Ridiculous Six"

WORST TV MOVIE

"Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!"

BEST MINI-SERIES

'Arthur And George'

BEST ONLINE TV

'Marco Polo'

BEST COMMERCIAL
"Amish Buggy" - Slim Jim

BEST EPISODE, ANY GENRE

"LCD Sound System" - 'You're The Worst'

BEST TWO-PART EPISODE

"The Zygon Invasion" & "The Zygon Inversion" - 'Doctor Who'

BEST SERIES RETURN

Drama:
'Longmire' on Netflix

WORST SERIES RETURN
Comedy:
'Community' on Yahoo!

BEST SEASON FINALE

'How To Get Away With Murder'

BEST SERIES FINALE

A major tie!
'The Late Show with David Letterman'
'The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'
'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'
'The Colbert Report'
'The Soup'

'Mad Men' never could catch a break.  It would have won had it not been for this massive exodus by reality/tallk shows.

BEST CLIFF-HANGER

'How To Get Away With Murder'

WORST CLIFF-HANGER

'Galavant'

THERE SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN A CLIFF-HANGER!!!!

BEST SPIN-OFF

'Agent Carter'

WORST SPIN-OFF

'Fear The Walking Dead'

BEST SEQUEL

'The Muppets'

BEST REMAKE

'Poldark'

BEST PILOT
'Dark Matter'
I fell out of the series after a few episodes, but the important thing was that the first episode gripped me enough to continue with it for awhile.  

WORST PILOT

'The Wheel Of Time'

BEST ONE SEASON WONDER
'A To Z'

BEST EPISODE TITLE

"Superdick" - 'Sirens'

BEST HISTORICAL RECREATION

'Marco Polo'
Even the death of Kublai Khan's brother by Kublai (which never happened) didn't diminish the historical feel.  A close runner-up was 'Arthur And George' about a real life mystery investigated by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

BEST SENSE OF ONE'S OWN HISTORY

'Grimm'
A Wesen real estate agent named Suzanne Acker helped provide information to Nick that led to where her brother was holding Monroe. In the next week's episode, Suzanne Acker's name was seen on a "For Sale" sign at the site of a Wesen murder case.

BEST BLEND OF TOOBWORLD AND REAL WORLD HISTORY

'New Tricks'

"London Underground"

The history of London's Fleet River and its environs (including an anecdote from the life of Thomas Hardy) provided the backdrop of a 40 year murder mystery.

BEST BLEND OF TOOBWORLD AND REAL WORLD CELEBRITY
'Alpha House'
All of the politicians and newscasters who played themselves keep 'Alpha House' locked into Earth Prime-Time.

BEST EXAMPLE OF LIFE DURING PRIME-TIME

"Dream Weekend" - the 2016 Subaru Impreza
I dare anyone to be unmoved by this story of a man taking a final road trip with his 14 year old dog, all to the song "My Buddy" by Willie Nelson

BEST TIE-IN

Sonic Sunglasses - Peter Capaldi has stated that he wanted 'Doctor Who' to be more accessible for kids when it came to acquiring props connected to the show.  (They can be pricey.)  So what could be cheaper than ordinary sunglasses?  Any pair, any style would work.

BEST CLASSIC TV EXPERIENCE
IMPORT
Tie: 'Campion' & 'Jonathan Creek'

DOMESTIC
'The Love Boat' - "Who Killed Maxwell Thorn?"

TVXOHOF - CHRISTMAS/DECEMBER, 2015: EBENEZER SCROOGE

Christmas is a time of tradition and it is no different for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  Usually for this month there are two inductions - one for Christmas, the other a multiversal.  This December there have been a couple of inductions already announced, Bette Midler and John "Steed", but neither one really fits the tradition.  

And so, with today's induction on Christmas Eve, we combine both categories with a TV character who embodies both traditions.

EBENEZER SCROOGE

Scrooge began life in BookWorld, of course, courtesy of fellow TVOXOHOF member Charles Dickens.  And there have been incarnations of the old miser in the Cineverse and Theater World since then,  The Audioverse and the world of comic strips would also have their versions of the old skinflint.

I may be wrong, but I think it is in the world of television where there have been the most incarnations of Ebenezer Scrooge.  And in this list of portrayals, I didn't even include those to be found in the blipverts......

For example.....

 

The many incarnations of Scrooge included in the membership does not include TV characters who dressed up as Scrooge (like Quincy Magoo and Ed Norton), nor as seen in dream sequences (like the one suffered by Oscar Madison), nor any of those based on the former partner of Jacob Marley, like Ebony Scrooge, Ebenita Scrooge, Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge, Daniel Grudge, Benedict Slade, Cyrus Flint, Ebenezer Blackadder, and of course, Scrooge McDuck and the Grinch.

So here's a list of the Scrooge televersions who share this one berth in the Hall of Fame.  (They'll probably all have to be ensconced in their own wing!)  They run the gamut of alternate TV worlds from various pocket dimensions of Skitlandia and the Tooniverse, so many Toobworlds in which other cultures hold sway, And there are a few alternate Scrooges who had exact counterparts who showed up in more than one Toobworld.  For example, those played by Basil Rathbone and Fredric March in two separate productions each.  (And Rathbone played one of those in an anthology series hosted by March!)

"Dickensian" (2015)
Played by Ned Dennehy

"Saturday Night Live" (2013) 
Played byTaran Killam / Jimmy Fallon

A Christmas Carol: The Concert (2013) 
Played by Michael Aaron Lindner (as Scrooge) / Michael Aaron Linder (as Scrooge)

"Epic Rap Battles of History" 
    - Donald Trump vs. Ebenezer Scrooge (2013) 
Played by Zach Sherwin

"Robot Chicken" 
    - Born Again Virgin Christmas Special (2013) 
Played by Drew Massey

"SMBC Theater" 
    - Scrooge (2012) 
Played by Zach Weiner (as Scrooge)

"Mad" 
    - Fantastic Four Christmases/Red & White Collar (2012) 
Played by Kevin Shinick

"The Charles Dickens Show" 
    - Christmas (2012) 
Played by Louise Brealey (as Scrooge)

"Cartoonito Tales" 
    - Christmas Carol
Played by Edward French(as Ebeneezer)

"Ask Grim" 
    - Episode #1.4 (2010) 
Played by David Beeler

The Carol Project (2006) 
Played by Bill Bourne

Chasing Christmas (2005)
Played by Meshach Peters (as Scrooge)

"The Late Late Show" 
    - Episode dated 2 December 2005 
Played by David McSavage (as Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol: The Musical (2004) 
Played by Kelsey Grammer / Joshua Wilmott (as Scrooge) / Steven Miller (as Young Scrooge) 

Scrooge and Marley (2001) 
Played by Dean Jones

R2-D2: Beneath the Dome (2001) 
Played by Barry Kite (as Scrooge)

Christmas Carol: The Movie (2001) 
Played by Simon Callow (as Scrooge)
[I've included this because of Simon Callow's participation.  His portrayal of Dickens is the official televersion for Toobworld.]

A Christmas Carol (1999)
Played by Josh Maguire (as Boy Scrooge) / Kenny Doughty (as Young Scrooge) / Patrick Stewart (as Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge)

Ebenezer (1998) 
Played by Jack Palance / Aaron Pearl (as Ebenezer age 17) / Kyle Collings (as Ebenezer age 8, 12)
[This may be the version to be found in the Litless Toobworld of 'Sleepy Hollow' & 'Elementary', but in a world without Dickens, Scrooge's parents may have migrated to the American Old West.]

A Christmas Carol (1994)
Played by Jeremy Kerridge

"The Real Ghostbusters" 
    - Xmas Marks the Spot (1986) 
Played by Peter Renaday

"George Burns Comedy Week" 
    - Christmas Carol II the Sequel (1985) 
Played byJames Whitmore

Christmas Carol (1984) 
Played by Michel Bouquet / Manuel Bonnet (as Young Scrooge)

Scrooge's Rock 'N' Roll Christmas (1984) 
Played by Jack Elam (as Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol (1984) 
Played by George C. Scott / Mark Strickson (as Young Scrooge)

The Gospel According to Scrooge (1983)
Played by Robert Buchanan / Eric Worre (as Young Adult Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol (1982/I)
Played by Richard Hilger /Stephen D'Ambrose (as Young Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol (1981) 
Played by William Paterson /Casey Peterson (as Boy Scrooge) / Thomas Harrison (as Young Scrooge)

George Burns' Early, Early, Early Christmas Special (1981)
Played by Hans Conried 

"3-2-1" 
    - Dickens (1979) 
Played by Wilfrid Brambell (as Ebeneezer Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol at Ford's Theatre (1979) 
Played by Ronald Bishop / Thomas Dillon (as Young Scrooge) / Steve O'Connor (as Youngest Scrooge)

The Stingiest Man in Town (1978) 
Played by Walter Matthau/ Robert Morse (as Young Scrooge)

Scrooge (1978) 
Played by Warren Graves / Colin Graves (as Young Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol (1977) 
Played by Michael Hordern (as Scrooge) / John Salthouse (as Scrooge as a Young Man) / Dorian Healy (as Scrooge as a Schoolboy)

Canción de Navidad (1974) 
Played by Antonio Passy (as Scrooge) / Mario Humberto Jiménez Pons (as Scrooge)

The Charles Dickens Show (1974) 
Played by Edward Thorpe (as Scrooge)

A Christmas Carol (1971)
Played by Alastair Sim

Carry on Christmas (1969)
Played by Sidney James

A Christmas Carol (1969) 
Played by Ron Haddrick

"Novela" 
    - Leyenda de Navidad (1966) 
Played by Luis Prendes (as Scrooge)

Karácsonyi ének (1964)
Played by Sándor Pécsi / István Sztankay (as Young Scrooge)

Mr. Scrooge (1964) 
Played by Cyril Ritchard / Don Francks(as Young Scrooge)

Ein Weihnachtslied in Prosa oder Eine Geistergeschichte zum Christfest (1960) 
Played by Carl Wery / Elmar Wepper (as Ebenezer Scrooge als Lehrling) / Mario Münster (as Ebenezer Scrooge als Schuljunge) 

"Fredric March Presents Tales from Dickens" 
    - A Christmas Carol (1958) 
Played by Basil Rathbone / Kaplan Kaye (as Scrooge as a boy) / Howard Williams(as Scrooge as a young man)

"General Electric Theater"  
    - The Trail to Christmas (1957) 
Played by John McIntire (as Ebeneezer Scrooge)

"The Alcoa Hour" 
    - The Stingiest Man in Town (1956) 
Played by Basil Rathbone / Vic Damone (as Young Scrooge)

"Shower of Stars" 
    - A Christmas Carol III (1956) 
Played by Fredric March
    - A Christmas Carol (1954) 
Played by Fredric March/ Craig Hill (as Young Scrooge)

Story of the Christmas Carol (1955) 
Played by Norman Gottschalk / George Greer (as Young Scrooge)

The Merry Christmas (1955)
Played by Hugh Griffith (as Scrooge) / Peter Reeves (as Young Scrooge)

Ein Weihnachtslied in Prosa (1955) 
Played by Harald Mannl

"Ponds Theater"  
    - A Christmas Carol (1953) 
Played by Noel Leslie

"Kraft Theatre" 
    - A Christmas Carol (1952) 
Played by Malcolm Keen

"Fireside Theatre" 
    - A Christmas Carol (1951) 
Played by Ralph Richardson

"All Star Revue" 
    - Episode #2.16 (1951) 
Played by Walter Slezak

A Christmas Carol (1950) 
Played by Bransby Williams /Sean Lynch (as Boy Scrooge) / John Bentley (as Young Scrooge) 

The Christmas Carol (1949) 
Played by Joe Battista (as Boy Scrooge) / Taylor Holmes (as Ebeneezer Scrooge)

"The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse" 
    - A Christmas Carol (1948)
Played by Dennis King

A Christmas Carol (1947)
Played by John Carradine

A Christmas Carol (1943)
Played by William Podmore

So who should be the official televersion of Ebenezer Scrooge?  I think we should honor a largely ignored Toobworld tenet that the first portrayal/adaptation should always be held as the official version.  With that in mind, I think William Podmore in an experimental TV production in 1943 is the Ebenezer Scrooge of Toobworld.  Sadly, not even publicity stills from that telecast survive as far as I can tell.  According to the IMDb, the ability to save recordings from TV broadcasts wasn't available back then.  (Apparently the world had more important things to think about back in the 1940s.....)

So this photo of Podmore is the best I could find.  It shows him as a doctor in the 1951 telecast of 'City Hospital'.  But in his surgical whites, it could just as easily look like Scrooge's nightgown.

Otherwise, I am partial to several more modern versions like those played by George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart.  And then there's the animated Scrooge voiced by Alastair Sim, who played my all-time favorite Scrooge in a 1950s movie.  

If the Toobworld Dynamic could just absorb any movie indiscriminately, then yeah - Sim would be THE Scrooge of Toobworld.  But alas, I've been... scrooged out of that option by my own rules.

At any rate, welcome aboard, Mr. Scrooge!  (Even if you would probably think the TVXOHOF is nothing more than a load of humbug......)

BCnU!

THOSE FRIENDS OF MINE - REBECCA STEINBERG! (co-starring Adele)

My friend Rebecca Steinberg is a very talented trumpet player.  And because of that, she's now a member of Toobworld, Reali-TV division half-way point in her NBC special on Monday 12/14.

According to reports I saw the following day, it proved to be the highest rated music special in the last 10 years.  So that's a piece of TV history that will likely hold for a long time, and Rebecca is a part of that......

Congratulations, Kiddo!  Welcome to Toobworld!

TVXOHOF, CHRISTMAS HONORS LIST - "JOHN STEED"

With Christmas, the Television Crossover Hall of Fame usually inducts a special honoree who might not otherwise gain entry into such an "exalted" institution.  And since we're celebrating the "British Invasion" of Toobworld in 2015, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to tip my bowler one last time to a great TV character whose portrayer left us this year.  (O'Bservation - for some reason, Entertainment Weekly didn't see fit to even mention him in its year-end issue.)  

JOHN STEED

TOP PROFESSIONAL

Patrick Macnee is forever linked to this role, even though he had quite a portfolio or roles in both television and th movies, including two alternate TV dimensional portrayals of Dr. John Watson ("Sherlock Holmes In New York" and "Sherlock Holmes And The Leading Lady" & "Sherlock Holmes And The Incident At Victoria Falls") as well as in both TV and movie productions about the Titanic.

In 'The Avengers', John Steed didn't even start out as the main character.  Instead he was the clandestine mentor to a doctor who was a novice in the field of espionage.  But once he moved on to work with talented amateurs Cathy Gale, Emma Peel, and Tara King, and later with Purdey and Mike Gambit, John Steed became the epitome of the British spy in Toobworld.  Even in embracing all the cliches of the standard bearer for the English gentleman, Steed carried himself with aplomb and kept the role from becoming a joke.

Steed appeared in over 150 episodes of the original series and in about 21 episodes of 'The New Avengers'.  And that would be impressive enough as it is, but it doesn't satisfy the basic tenet of the TVXOHOF - there must be three different TV series/movies/specials/commercials in which the character appeared.  

With the Christmas honors list, some flexibility is allowed.  And so with John Steed, we have to look elsewhere for him, in a TV production in which he was not known as John Steed.

This would not be such an outlandish idea when dealing with a spy; secret agent men always used false identities.  John Steed could have been in some other TV under an alias.

Only... it's my contention that it was the name "John Steed" which was the false identity for all of those years.

Think about it.  "John Steed" seems almost too perfect for the name of an operative.  And it's likely that his real name had too much baggage for him to use openly in his work.  But eventually I think Steed was elevated to a position in the shadowy world of espionage in which it was incumbent that he be known by his true name.

Sir John Raleigh

Head of UNCLE

I'm not the first one to make this connection.  If I'm not mistaken, there are some academics in the world of Wold Newton research who have made the same claim.  And it's an easy claim to find a splainin - to keep things simple, he kept his original first name; common enough, perhaps the most common first name, so that its re-use wouldn't arouse suspicions.

As for "Raleigh", he may have come from a noble family well-established in Burke's Peerage.  It may even have been a Toobworld family that could trace its lineage back to the televersion of historical explorer Sir Walter Raleigh.  Sir John's standing in society and the protection of his family would have been ample reason for him to go by a "Nom d'espionnage".

And to be chosen to lead the United Network Command for Law Enforcement would have been the perfect "job opportunity" for a top professional like "Steed" after his faithful service in MI-5.  (Sir John Raleigh would have been at least the fourth to helm UNCLE since its inception.  Alexander Waverly was with the organization from the beginning, rising to the role of Number One of Section One, before becoming the head of UNCLE until his death.  Who was in charge between Waverly and Sir John is unknown at this time.  (By me, anyway.  Perhaps one of my Wold Newton friends have theorized that there's a character to be found in pulp literature might have taken on the job.  As for the Toobworld Dynamic, I'm sure we could find a TV character to take the position.)

And so there it stands for "John Steed":

• 'The Avengers'
• 'The New Avengers'
• "The Return Of The Man From UNCLE: The Fifteen Years Later Affair"

BCnU!

CONVERSATION PIECES - WINTER'S EVE

DI Vera Stanhope: 

"Winter... Can you feel it?"

'Vera' 

Lord Eddard Stark: 

"Winter is coming." 

'Game Of Thrones'

From the Farmer's Almanac:

In 2015, winter begins on December 21, 11:48 P.M. EST.

BCnU!

VIDEO WEEKEND - MERRY "CHRISTM*A*S*H"

"STAR WARS" IN TOOBWORLD - A TOP TEN LIST

I went to see the new "Star Wars" movie, "A Force Awakens", Thursday night.  I'm writing this up even before I saw it. (Amendment: Access-A-Ride screwed up my ride downtown, an hour late when I wanted to be there an hour early.  So I didn't see it yet after all......)

Here's a Top Ten list, rather than a Super Six list, of references to the first movie (fourth in the timeline) from various TV shows in the main Toobworld.  And I decided to crank it up to eleven.......

The Bob Newhart Show: Carlin's New Suit (1977)
Bob, Howard, Carlin and Billy wait in line for the movie.

Lou Grant: Scoop (1977)
The Assistant Foreign Editor mentions 'Star Wars as the inflight movie'

Mork & Mindy: A Mommy for Morky (1978)
An upside-down Star Wars poster is seen adorning the wall of Mork's attic bedroom.

Hart to Hart: This Lady Is Murder (1980)
a character is referred to as "the one who's seen Star Wars 47 times."

Three's Company: Strangers in the Night (1982)
Bernice claims her favorite song is the theme from Star Wars.

Remington Steele: Lofty Steele (1984)
When they enter Charlie's apartment and see all of the toy robots, Steele says it looks like the prop room for Star Wars.

Wings: Stew in a Stew (1992)
Helen explains sequels to Antonio, and uses the "Star Wars" films as an example.

Friends: The One with the Prom Video (1996)
Monica says that Roy Gublick, her prom date, saw the movie 317 times and that his name was in the paper for it.

3rd Rock from the Sun: Father Knows Dick (1996)
Tommy watches this film on TV.

Spaced: Chaos (1999)
Tim, Daisy and Brian watch the Star Wars trilogy and talk about it in depth. Later, they reference the characters, music and dialogue featured in the movie, particularly from the meeting about destroying the Death Star.

And bringing it back to where we began......

That '70s Show: A New Hope (1999)
The kids go to see Star Wars. There are many references to the movie.

May the Force be with you.....