KING FINDER

'The Finder' already made a connection in Toobworld with its second episode due to a crossover appearance by Dr. Lance Sweets from 'Bones' (thus ensuring it of the "First Crossover Of The Year" Toobits Award for 2012.) In two weeks, Dr. Hodgins of 'Bones' will be making an appearance as well. And with Stephen Fry announced as a guest star, I'm assuming he'll be showing up as his recurring character of Dr. Gordon Gordon Wyatt.

But those would be official crossovers. With the episode "Swing And A Miss", 'The Finder' made an unofficial - and probably unrealized - connection to a 2002 TV series that I not only never saw, but which I didn't even know existed.

From TV.com:

The HBO show "Baseball Wives" features a female ensemble, each married to ballplayers on a fictitious Miami-area team. The project was the brainchild of actress Michelle Grace, a former baseball wife herself who is a producer and cast member.

It starred Brian Bloom and was directed by Steve Buscemi, both of whom have connections to the premium network.

I don't know why I missed that. I have HBO....

The baseball team in question was the Miami Kings. And Walter's client, Frank Heywood, was a pitcher on that same team.

There was a scene in the team locker room that identified the team as the Kings, thanks to the background poster. And even though the series takes place on Looking Glass Key, Walter and Leo often travel to Miami for cases. As it is the biggest city in the area, Miami had to be the home of the Kings for that episode and not just a farm team base.

As such, I think Walter Sherman will end up qualifying for entry in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame....

BCnU!

THE LATEST NUMBERS RUNNING

Well, I haven't done one of these posts in a while....

"The Numbers" was a numerical sequence that supposedly had great significance to the TV Universe as a whole - at least seen within the context of the TV series 'Lost'. Their true meaning was never satisfactorily splained away during the course of the show and even outside the box their mystery was never fully revealed.

But the Lostpedia website did their best.....

Since Toobworld looks at the TV Universe as a whole, what applies to one series should have as much import in the other shows as well. So I'm always looking for new instances of "The Numbers" on TV all the time.

Here are some of the latest ones I found:

4

"Supernatural"

"The Adventurer"

However, they're not the same soundstage.  In fact, the one from 'Supernatural' is from an alternate dimension.....

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" 

"Mercury Men"

8

I didn't find any this time.....

15

"Rizzoli & Isles"

"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon"

16

"Alphas"

23

"The Finder"

My most recent find.....

"Fringe"

By this point, it feels strange if you go to long without a 'Lost' reference on the show.....

42

"Chuck"

One of the Greta agents passed by the 42 inch Vizio display in the Buy More.......

COMBINATIONS

8-15

"Once Upon A Time"

'Lost' references keep popping up in the fairy tale series, which is not surprising because the showrunners used to work for the earlier series.  The clock in Storybrooke, Maine, was stuck at 8:15 until the events of the pilot episode......

And just as a bit of serendipiteevee.......

8-23

I hope none of these were repeats, but I can't be certain.

BCnU!

SUPER BOWL BLIPVERTS 2012 - DORITOS

I have a feeling there are thousands of cat lovers in America who have vowed never to eat Doritos again. I'm actually surprised I haven't heard about any kind of backlash about this blipvert.

But a Toobworld splainin of the circumstances might soften their objections.

Everything done by the Great Dane - hiding the evidence, bribing the witness, writing the note - supports the premise that humans are reincarnated as dogs, retaining their human intelligence.

But with cats, using Salem of 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch' as a precedent, they're warlocks who have been magically transformed into witches' familiars. (Another candidate - Dickens on 'Tucker's Witch'.)

The late Fluffy might have been an evil warlock transformed into a cat, and somehow the Great Dane got the drop on him. Perhaps in his past life he had been a "witchsmeller" like Pursuivant from 'Black Adder'.

Of course, that is all supposition. But doesn't it make it better that the cat was killed because it was evil?

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: QUASIMODO

QUASIMODO

AS SEEN IN:

'Wishbone'

AS PLAYED BY:

Wishbone

CREATED BY:

Victor Hugo

TV DIMENSION:

Not Applicable

STATUS:

Dream Figure

From Wikipedia:

Quasimodo is a fictional character in the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo. Quasimodo was born with a hunchback and feared by the townspeople as a sort of monster but he finds sanctuary in an unlikely love that is fulfilled only in death. The role of Quasimodo has been played by many actors in film and stage adaptations, including Lon Chaney, Sr. (1923) and Charles Laughton (1939), as well as the 1996 Disney animated adaptation. In 2010, a British researcher found evidence suggesting there was a real-life hunchbacked stone carver who worked at Notre Dame during the same period Victor Hugo was writing the novel and they may have even known one another.

BCnU!

PROGRAMMING NOTES

Because I'm running a theme for the "As Seen On TV" showcase all this coming week, you might think I've gone off on vacation again. But it's just that I'll be looking at the over-riding theme (at least for the Toobworld Dynamic) that played out in the Super Bowl 2012 commercials, one bow-wow blipvert a day. So I figured if I was going to the dogs anyway, I may as well do so with the literary adaptations as well. And that's why I turned to 'Wishbone' for our characters......

Also beginning on Monday, I'll start posting the many articles I wrote up while I was on vacation down in Florida.  It seemed as though every TV show I watched had a televisiological tidbit that I could work with......

BCnU!

A XENO-BIOLOGY LESSON

And what would Video Weekend be like without some 'Doctor Who'?

We know from "St. Stephen's Day" that the Doctor was a tele-cognizant serlinguist, but he picked a hell of a time to make an aside to the audience viewing from the Trueniverse!

BCnU!

A DOG'S TALE

The rescue of this dog was a big news story while I was down in Florida, but I didn't know about the follow-up to this story until my brother Bill sent me this link:

It would be a shame if they kill it. The anchorwoman shouldn't have been so stupid to swoop in like that when the dog was probably scared of its surroundings and had already been through a traumatic situation......

BCnU!

DOLPHIN TALE

On my last night in Florida, I took my hosts (my Auntie Ellie, cousin Maggie and her husband Ed) out to dinner at The Fishery in Englewood (highly recommended!) We sat by the window with a fantastic view of the bay. And best of all, we were entertained by two dolphins.

This video made me think of that night....

BCnU!

"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" - STARRING GEORGE C. SCOTT & TRISH VAN DEVERE

AS SEEN ON TV: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

After a week of fairy tales while I was on vacation, I hope you won't mind one last one.  At least it's not set in Storybrooke, Maine (but Belle will be showing up there tonight - Feb. 12).....

 BELLE AND BEAST

AS SEEN IN:

"Beauty And The Beast"

AS PLAYED BY:

Belle - Trish Van Devere

Beast - George C. Scott

ADAPTED BY:

Marie Le Prince de Beaumont

TV DIMENSION:

Earth Prime-Time

STATUS:

Recastaways,

(Original & Deceased)

From Wikipedia:

"Beauty and the Beast" (French: "La Belle et la Bête") is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in La jeune américaine, et les contes marins in 1740. The best-known written version was an abridgement of her work published in 1756 by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont, in "Magasin des enfants, ou dialogues entre une sage gouvernante et plusieurs de ses élèves"; an English translation appeared in 1757.

Variants of the tale are known across Europe. In France, for example, "Zémire et Azor" is an operatic version of the story of Beauty and the Beast written by Marmontel and composed by Grétry in 1771. It had enormous success well into the 19th century. It is based on the second version of the tale.

"Amour pour amour", by Nivelle de la Chaussée, is a 1742 play based on Villeneuve's version.

George C. Scott turned in a made-for-TV rendition in 1976, which aired as part of the "Hallmark Hall of Fame". Scott was nominated for an Emmy for his performance.

In 1984, Shelley Duvall's 'Faerie Tale Theatre' aired "Beauty and the Beast" starring Klaus Kinski and Susan Sarandon. The script, sets, makeup and costumes were based on the 1946 film.

'Beauty and the Beast', which owed as much to detective shows and fantasy fiction as to the fairy tale, originally broadcast from 1987 to 1989. This was centered around the relationship between Catherine (played by Linda Hamilton), an attorney who lived in New York City and Vincent (played by Ron Perlman), a gentle but lion-faced "beast" who dwells in the tunnels beneath the city. Wendy Pini created two issues of a comic-book adaptation of the TV series. The series was cancelled when ratings fell after Hamilton decided to leave the show at the end of the second season.

HBO's 'Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child' did a version of the story set in Equatorial Africa.

Both ABC and the CW have ordered pilots for television shows based on the classic fairy tale.

From the source:

At noon she found dinner ready, and while at table, was entertained with an excellent concert of music, though without seeing anybody. But at night, as she was going to sit down to supper, she heard the noise Beast made, and could not help being sadly terrified. "Beauty," said the monster, "will you give me leave to see you sup?"

"That is as you please," answered Beauty trembling.

"No," replied the Beast, "you alone are mistress here; you need only bid me gone, if my presence is troublesome, and I will immediately withdraw. But, tell me, do not you think me very ugly?"

"That is true," said Beauty, "for I cannot tell a lie, but I believe you are very good natured."

"So I am," said the monster, "but then, besides my ugliness, I have no sense; I know very well, that I am a poor, silly, stupid creature."

"'Tis no sign of folly to think so," replied Beauty, "for never did fool know this, or had so humble a conceit of his own understanding."

"Eat then, Beauty," said the monster, "and endeavor to amuse yourself in your palace, for everything here is yours, and I should be very uneasy, if you were not happy."

"You are very obliging," answered Beauty, "I own I am pleased with your kindness, and when I consider that, your deformity scarce appears."

"Yes, yes," said the Beast, "my heart is good, but still I am a monster."

"Among mankind," says Beauty, "there are many that deserve that name more than you, and I prefer you, just as you are, to those, who, under a human form, hide a treacherous, corrupt, and ungrateful heart."

"If I had sense enough," replied the Beast, "I would make a fine compliment to thank you, but I am so dull, that I can only say, I am greatly obliged to you."

Beauty ate a hearty supper, and had almost conquered her dread of the monster; but she had like to have fainted away, when he said to her, "Beauty, will you be my wife?"

She was some time before she dared answer, for she was afraid of making him angry, if she refused. At last, however, she said trembling, "no Beast." Immediately the poor monster went to sigh, and hissed so frightfully, that the whole palace echoed. But Beauty soon recovered her fright, for Beast having said, in a mournful voice, "then farewell, Beauty," left the room; and only turned back, now and then, to look at her as he went out.

BCnU!