Orbach Lives!

From Rush & Malloy, gossip columnists in the NY Daily News:

Jerry Orbach died in December - yet the commercials he made for a mortgage company continued to run in New York and nationally.

They went on despite promises from David Peskin, president of the Senior Lending Network, to immediately halt the promos the day after Orbach's death.

Elaine Orbach, the widow of the "Law & Order" star, is unhappy about it and considering her legal options, according to The News' Deborah Kolben.

"It was spooky," one viewer told us. "It was like he was selling mortgages from beyond the grave."

Reps for the beloved New York actor, a former Broadway musical star, would not comment.

But Peskin spokeswoman Laura Bennett told us: "Yes, it's true that one or two ran as many as 10 more days [after Orbach's death]. But we asked the stations to pull them, and they told us they couldn't be pulled out of rotation.

"We never heard from the Orbach family. We're very sorry if they are upset. It was a real blow. He was very easy to work with and he was tremendously successful."

Bennett added that the company will announce a new spokesman next week.

A Toobworld Note:

That's bullbleep that they only ran for 10 days after Orbach's death. I saw one at 9:15 am on January 27th [on CNN]. So that's about a full month since his death. I've got nothing against seeing his actual performances, especially as Lennie Briscoe, even though he's passed on. In fact, I can't wait until 'Trial By Jury' finally debuts so we can see his final two episodes as Lennie.

But schilling mortgages from the afterlife? There was only one thing creepier I've seen in a similar vein: seeing Phil Foster ('Laverne & Shirley') hawking for a New York local furniture store many years after his death!

'Desperate' Spinoff?

From the pages of that fine publication, the New York Post:

February 4, 2005

THE "Desperate Housewives" of Wisteria Lane are desperate for a spinoff — and might get one.

"The network [ABC] has saved an area [on the schedule] for me when I'm ready to write it," series creator Marc Cherry tells the latest edition of TV Guide.

But "it's going to take me a couple of seasons before I have the energy [and] time," he says. "I know another angle on telling the stories of the people in this neighborhood."

Cherry says cryptically that the new show would focus on a "segment of Wisteria Lane's population . . . but would be set somewhere else."
— Don Kaplan

FIRST FEB. CROSSOVER (A TIE!)

For the first week of February, the fifth week of the year, we have a tie for the Crossover of the Week. Both of them employed the techniqueof using Real World celebrities portraying fictionalized versions of themselves.

And both of our celebrity celebrants are long-time members of the League of Themselves. As it is Black History Month, and since we respect the mantra of "Ladies first, Ladies first!", we'll begin with Brandy Norwood.

BRANDY NORWOOD
Brandy appeared in the opening scene of 'House'. She was insistent that even though the recording studio time was costing her a lot of money, it was imperative that they wait for the arrival of John Henry Giles, a legendary horn player.

Once he arrived, she played back the tracks already laid down for the song which she wanted him to play and John Henry only needed the one go-through.

However, he collapsed during the song, and Brandy quickly dialed 911 for help.

This appearance by the young actress/singer ties in with several other dramas as well as sitcoms, including her own show 'Moesha' which had an episode entitled "Moesha Meets Brandy". (Such encounters are standard in Toobworld.)

"House, M.D." playing "Herself" in episode: "DNR" (episode # 1.9) 1 February 2005
"Maybe It's Me" playing "Herself" (as Brandy) in episode: "The Quahog Festival Episode" (episode # 1.20) 19 April 2002
"New York Undercover" playing "Herself" in episode: "Digital Underground" (episode # 2.5) 28 September 1995

There were also two intriguing credits in her IMDb entry which made me investigate further:
"Reba" playing "Mystery Caller" (uncredited) in episode: "She Works Hard for Their Money" (episode # 1.18) 19 April 2002
"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" playing "Mystery Caller" (uncredited) in episode: "Guilty!" (episode # 6.19) 19 April 2002

Upon further investigation in epguides.com, it appears that on April 19th, 2002, The WB had all of its friday night sitcoms play a game with a mystrey caller. I'm assuming Brandy Norwood served that purpose in the other two shows.

The other two shows were the above-mentioned episode of 'Maybe It's Me' and 'Raising Dad'. (That episode was 'The House Of Stewart'.)

I'm not sure why this "theme" night was presented. As far as I know, it may have been an advance promo for Brandy's "reality" series 'Brandy: Special Delivery' which was purported to be about the impending birth of her baby and which aired on MTV in June of that year.

If anyone out there knows, fill me in.

As for our other honoree:

JAY LENO
For Toobworld, it may well turn out that Jay Leno is the TV show equivalent of Kevin Bacon. Since he assumed the mantle of 'Tonight Show' host from Johnny Carson (but not as Heir Apparent!), Leno was making appearances as himself on a wide variety of TV series:

"The Bernie Mac Show" playing "Himself" in episode: "Pink Gold" (episode # 2.15) 19 March 2003
"Scrubs" playing "Himself" in episode: "My Own Private Practice Guy" (episode # 2.17) 13 March 2003
"Pet Star" playing "Judge" (episode # 1.9) 15 February 2003
"Just Shoot Me!" playing "Himself" in episode: "Liotta? Liotta!" (episode # 6.12) 31 January 2002
"Titus" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Pit" (episode # 2.22) 8 May 2001
"The Chris Isaak Show" playing "Himself" in episode: "T&A" (episode # 1.7) 23 April 2001
"DAG" playing "Himself" (uncredited) in episode: "Pilot" (episode # 1.1) 14 November 2000
"Passions" playing "Himself" (episode # 1.332) 13 October 2000
"Dilbert" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "The Delivery" (episode # 2.14) 13 June 2000
"Late Show with David Letterman" playing "Himself" 29 February 2000
"The West Wing" playing "Himself" in episode: "20 Hours in L.A." (episode # 1.16) 23 February 2000
"V.I.P." playing "Himself" in episode: "Valma and Louise" (episode # 2.6) 30 October 1999
"Home Improvement" playing "Himself" in episode: "Home Alone" (episode # 8.14) 19 January 1999
"V.I.P." playing "Himself" in episode: "Diamonds Are a Val's Best Friend" (episode # 1.6) 31 October 1998
"South Park" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "City on the Edge of Forever" (episode # 2.7) 17 June 1998
"The Simpsons" playing "Himself" (voice) in episode: "The Last Temptation of Krust" (episode # 9.15) 22 February 1998
"Muppets Tonight!" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Best of Muppets Tonight!" (episode # 2.9) 21 December 1997
"Muppets Tonight!" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Cameo Show" (episode # 2.8) 7 December 1997
"Veronica's Closet" playing "Himself" in episode: "Pilot" (episode # 1.1) 25 September 1997
"Caroline in the City" playing "Himself" in episode: "Caroline and the Bad Trip" (episode # 2.23) 6 May 1997
"Just Shoot Me!" playing "Himself" in episode: "Secretary's Day" (episode # 1.3) 12 March 1997
"Baywatch" playing "Himself" in episode: "Talk Show" (episode # 7.14) 17 February 1997
"3rd Rock from the Sun" playing "Himself" in episode: "Dick Jokes" (episode # 2.11) 8 December 1996
"The Nanny" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Taxman Cometh" (episode # 4.7) 6 November 1996
"Ellen" playing "Himself" in episode: "Go Girlz" (episode # 3.23) 1 May 1996
"Seinfeld" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Shower Head" (episode # 7.15) 15 February 1996
"Wings" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Team Player" (episode # 7.15) 6 February 1996
"Homicide: Life on the Street" playing "Himself" in episode: "Sniper: Part 1" (episode # 4.8) 5 January 1996
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Script Formerly Known As..." (episode # 6.5) 16 October 1995
"JAG" playing "Himself" in episode: "Pilot: Part 2" (episode # 1.2) 23 September 1995
"JAG" playing "Himself" in episode: "Pilot: Part 1" (episode # 1.1) 23 September 1995
"Mad About You" playing "Himself" in episode: "Just My Dog" (episode # 3.15) 9 February 1995
"Home Improvement" playing "Jay" in episode: "Brother, Can You Spare a Hot Rod?" (episode # 4.14) 10 January 1995
"Friends" playing "Himself" in episode: "The One with Mrs. Bing" (episode # 1.10) 5 January 1995
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" playing "Himself" in episode: "Will's Up a Dirt Road" (episode # 5.10) 21 November 1994
"Saturday Night Live" playing "Himself" (uncredited) (episode # 19.20) 14 May 1994
"The Sinbad Show" playing "Himself" in episode: "The Telethon" (episode # 1.17) 3 March 1994
"The Larry Sanders Show" playing "Himself" in episode: "Performance Artist" (episode # 2.14) 25 August 1993
"The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show" (1977) TV Series .... Himself/Cast Member (1977)

And of course, there's been his tenure on the 'Tonight Show' since 1991 and which will be under his stewardship until 2009.

Looking over that list, it's apparent that Jay Leno has served as NBC's biggest cheerleader since he became the host of 'Tonight'. I'm not that big a fan of his as far as that show goes (I prefer Letterman), but it doesn't seem right that a 'CSI' team could dust his back for the Peacock's handprints as they started shoving him out the door.

(Some of those appearances are definitely in alternate TV dimensions. 'South Park' and 'The Simpsons' fall into the Tooniverse, while 'The West Wing' takes place on Earth Prime-Time Jed. Others I included because of their novelty, like Jay being a judge on 'Pet Star', or appearing on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' to bury the hatchet over the 'Tonight Show' gig. Not listed at IMDb.com is Jay's appearance as a contestant on 'Battlebots'. Gear-head Leno had a robot with his mug on it dubbed "Chin Killer".)

In his latest appearance on an NBC show, Leno needed a last-minute replacement to appear on the talk show and 'Joey' Tribbiani, star of 'Deep Powder', got the nod. But because he was stuck in traffic, Joey barely made it onstage in time to say hi to Jay.

And Joey called Jay "Johnny" by mistake, just a week after the death of the Late Night King.

I wonder how NBC felt playing that episode at this time. It worked, and I know it was taped months in advance, and it really wasn't distasteful, but we're dealing with cretins who are the majority of the audience. I'll bet there are TV bulletin boards out there in cyberspace where there is much wailing and gnashing of the teeth over the "lack of respect" for Carson's passing.

NBC might have been better off saving this episode for May Sweeps.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

TELE-MOOCH

What would Life be like for me if I was a cat?

I think Patrick McDonnell is capturing it nicely with this week's run of the "Mutts" comic strip.

Go here to check it out for yourself:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/comics/king.htm?name=Mutts&date=20050131

Or to any fine website for comics that you frequent.

(Just in case that link doesn't work for you!)

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES

This is the type of story you can expect to see about a year later in one or another of the various crime dramas in the 'Law & Order' universe. It would also have been an engaging sub-plot on 'NYPD Blue'......

Wed Feb 2, 7:23 AM ET
BY NICOLE BODE and ROBERT F. MOORE,
With Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

An impatient 75-year-old East Village man stabbed a homeless man in the throat yesterday after twisting apart a walking cane to reveal a long sword, cops and witnesses said.

Eugene Carlson allegedly attacked George Devol with the 22-inch blade after the homeless man blocked a narrow path along the snow-covered, trash-strewn sidewalk on E. Ninth St. and refused to budge. As several horrified churchgoers looked on, Carlson hacked into Devol's neck with his stealth weapon and nearly severed the victim's jugular vein outside Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Church, police said.

"The old man was going to go after him again," said a witness, a homeless man who didn't want his name used. "I had to get involved."

The good Samaritan said he snatched the wooden cane and held Carlson until cops arrived about 1:40p.m.
"The old man was all confused," said the witness. "He was in a daze. He didn't know what he had done. You could tell."

Devol, 30, who had just left the church, between Avenues B and C, was in good spirits about getting a job at Con Edison before he was attacked, friends said. He was rushed to Bellevue Hospital and was in critical but stable condition last night.

Carlson, who lives up the block near Avenue C, was charged with first-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said.

His neighbors were stunned by the charges against him. "It's hard for me to wrap my mind around it," said Mal Stein, 44. "He's an elderly man, relatively fragile," Stein added. "He's not in good health."

A "LOST' OPPORTUNITY

In one of the flashbacks of the 'Lost' episode "Hearts & Minds", we saw Boone Carlisle in a Sydney, Australia police station trying to swear out a complaint against his step-sister's latest boyfriend, Bryan. Unfortunately, the desk officer wasn't too willing to get involved. (

DETECTIVE: "Mr. Carlisle, in the absence of any physical evidence or a direct complaint from, uh....."

BOONE: "Shannon."

DETECTIVE: "Shannon. We can't just go baring in people's apartments. Sadly, we're the police, not the dating police."

But why couldn't they have been at least the Harbour Police?

From 1996 to 2002 or so, one of the most popular police procedurals on Australian TV was 'Water Rats', which took place in and around Sydney Harbour.

Barring the actual import of any of the actors who played established characters on that show, at least the producers of 'Lost' could have thrown this old Crossoverite a bone by making it known that the police station was the same one used by the "Rats".

As it is, I'm still content in imagining it actually was the same police station, and that the cops we saw in that short scene were either from a different shift, or the other cops known in the series were enjoying days off and vacation time.

It might seem strange that Boone would have sought police assistance from a police station tailored for water-based crimes. But as we saw in a later flashback, Boone confronted Bryan down on the pier, where the abusive boyfriend was washing down the area.

Boone probably wanted to get help from the police who would be closest to the "psycho" (as Boone described Bryan) at his place of employment.

And after leaving the 'Water Rats' station, Boone might have headed straight over to the pier where Bryan was working and made his monetary offer for Bryan to get "lost" himself.

So as far as I'm concerned in a corner of the TV Universe where the rules are a bit more lax, this can be considered a missing link.

BCnU!

Tele-Toby

BARNEY COLLIER

This year marks the 50th year I've been stranded on your world.

As such, I've applied the philosophy of the Birthday Honors List to the entire induction process for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame in 2005.

"What I say, goes."

Therefore, in celebration of Black History Month, I'm pleased to announce that the February induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame is the techno-wizard electronics genius of the Impossible Mission Force:

Barney Collier.

As befitting a spy who must have deep deniability, the dossier on Barney Collier is quite scant in details:

Years of service to the IMF: 7

Missions completed: 156

The IMF's mechanical and electronics genius.

President of his own electronics company, Collier Electronics.

I posted the following back on November 20th of last year. And it was because of this blog entry that I realized I had the perfect candidate for this month's induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame:

Because of their line of work, a secret agent usually leads a very lonely life. No close friends outside of their partners, no family to really speak of, no lasting relationships. How could they have those things? Anybody they became close to would be a target for their enemies.

That's why most spies, like James Bond ('Casino Royale'), can be excused for having an endless string of temporary lovers. [Being the prurient moralist that he is, John Drake ('Danger Man') had to abstain even from those fleeting comforts.]

Eventually, some of them do fall in love and, after their romantic partners are vetted by their higher-ups, they even marry and raise a family. Partners Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott ('I Spy') obviously needed more than their own companionship; each of them married and had a child who would later follow in their footsteps. ('I Spy Returns')

But even so, the secret agent would still have to take precautions. He'd have to settle his family in far from his haunts as a "spook"; and perhaps even have them all live under an assumed name as though they were in the witness protection program.

So it was for IMF member Barney Collier. ('Mission : Impossible')

We don't know who his wife was, but he must have set up their househould in New Rochelle, New York. There they lived under the surname of "Peters" - a nice, bland name which probably never raised a blip during surveillance sweeps by agents of KAOS ('Get Smart') or THRUSH ('The Man From UNCLE') or some other nefarious organization.

And at some point around 1955, Barney Collier met Rob Petrie, creating a theoretical link between 'Mission: Impossible' and 'The Dick Van Dyke Show'.

By 1988, Barney Collier's son Grant had followed in Dad's footsteps. ('Mission: Impossible 2') As a technical genius, Grant Collier worked with his Dad's old boss Jim Phelps and even was able to rescue Barney from a foreign prison. (This near-tragedy made them both realize how easily it would be to lose the other. Any gulfs in their relationship as father and son were quickly erased.)

At this time, I have no information on whether or not Grant Collier ever used the alias of "Peters" for old times sake........

By the way, many years later, Barney's former IMF partner Cinnamon Carter met a Dr. Mark Sloan in Los Angeles. ('Diagnosis Murder') Had Barney been around to get involved in that case, he might have noticed a striking resemblance between Dr. Sloan and Rob Petrie.

Then again, maybe not. Although a one-time meeting over thirty years before might not have been that memorable, there's also another factor to consider: For some reason, many people in the TV Universe don't seem to notice when they meet more than one person who looks exactly the same. Otherwise, Dr. 'Frasier' Crane might have said something when a piano tuner showed up in 'Cheers' who looked exactly like his father Martin!

Welcome aboard, Mr. Collier. You'll never have to worry about us disavowing your presence in the Hall of Fame!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

PS: Even though Barney Collier is a separate entity from Greg Morris in the TV Universe, anybody who would walk out of the movie version of "Mission: Impossible" is A-OK in my book!

"If you want to know who you are, it's important to know who you've been."- Jadzia Dax, 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'

CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK (THIS WEEK, REALLY!)

While watching 'Monk' this past weekend, I came across this week's crossover. But it wasn't connected to 'Monk' at all. It was a commercial that played during the episode.

Ol' Lonely III, the Maytag repairman, was sitting at his office eating from a box of Cheez-Its. When the phone rang, there was a frantic woman was calling in with a plea for help - her Maytag washer was broken and flooding her house.

"Is the water over your head yet?"

"Um... no...."

"Well, make sure you hold your breath when that help happens." After he hangs up, Ol' Lonely shouts out, "Nice try, Rookie!"

And then we see that the Maytag novitiate is in the back room with a cell phone, foiled in his attempt to get the box of Cheez-Its.

And the familiar voiceover for the Cheez-It company says, "Get your own box."

Usually, Ol' Lonely, played by actor Hardy Rawls, and the Apprentice, portrayed by Mark Devine, are found attesting to the dependability of appliances made by Newton-based Maytag.

The commercial, directed by Jim Gartner of Gartner Films, is not the first time the two repairmen have been used to promote another company's product. In 2002, they appeared in a spot for the Chevrolet Impala. That ad was created by Chevy's lead agency, Interpublic Group's Campbell-Ewald in Warren, Mich.

Kellogg says it likes seeing its product promoted by "two much-loved and instantly recognizable characters."Maytag gets a kind of subliminal plug, too, because when viewers see the two Maytag men, they're going to think of, well, Maytag.

The 30-second Cheez-It spot will air on national network and cable television through spring.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

TV CROSSOVER OF THE (LAST) WEEK

I've been remiss in keeping track of the TV crossovers for these last few weeks (not that we've had that many).

I guess the last update was the celebration of the musical link between 'Lost' and 'Alias', with DriveShaft's "You All Everybody" playing in the background at Sydney Bristow's party.

Before that, it was a commercial link in which 7-Up Plus had half a reunion of the 'Sex And The City' pretties - Miranda Hobbes and Charlotte York.

For these last couple of weeks, we also turn to the world of advertising.

First up was a blipvert for Dove Imaging which featured crosstime testimonials from three of Hanna-Barbera's leading ladies of cartoons:

Meet Jane Jetson, from the far-flung Future of 2001 ('The Jetsons'), Wilma Flintstone from a place right out of History ('The Flintstones'), and Velma Dinkley of the stuck-in-the-70s Now ('Scooby Doo, Where Are You?').

In magazine print ads, they are joined by Marge Simpson of 'The Simpsons', and it looks like only Wilma was chosen for the subway posters. (But then who better represents that cave-like ambience in order to proclaim that a little yabba dab'll do ya?)

Unfortunately, they are all "interviewed" separately about the product. It would have been great to get them all together; to hear them kvell about various topics.... sort of a toon 'View'.

I suppose all three women will eventually enter the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. (Wilma's daughter Pebbles Flintstone Rubble is already a member.)

Besides the various TV movies, spin-offs, and specials evolved from 'The Flintstones', Wilma has also done a few commercials. Most infamous would be the old Winston cigarettes blipvert.

Jane Jetson has been quite the darling of the ad planet in recent years, mostly for Radio Shack.

And all three ladies have even crossed over to theatrical releases, with Wilma and Velma being portrayed in flesh and blood rather than just pen and ink.

Wilma and Jane have crossed paths before in a special toon..... Perhaps someday the Mystery Machine might be transported into some temporal vortex where these three Hanna-Barberellas can let their hair down and diss the men - and dogs/dinos - in their lives.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

CHOW TIME

Sonny Chow was a martial arts movie star in Toobworld until his death in 1998 from a morphine addiction.

Among his many movies are:

Enter The Cobra
Ten Fingers Of Doom
Fist Of The Cobra
Death From The Darkness
Kung Fu Assassin
Legend Of The Cobra
Ninja Fury
Blood Rage II

Apparently, his movies are probably hard to find now in Toobworld. An author who had written an expose about Sonny Chow had only videotapes of the movies, not DVDs. And Lt. Disher considered the bootleg tape of "Enter The Cobra" to be a rare find.

But now that John Ricca, who wrote the hated tell-all "Paper Cobra", was murdered in a failed attempt to convince the police that Sonny Chow was still alive, perhaps it's time to release the movies again in a deluxe DVD boxed set.

It would be a big seller and probably be a lot better than watching DVD of old 'Jetman' shows starring Oscar North......
('Monk' & 'He & She')

BCnU!
Tele-Toby