THE FINAL TOOBITS AWARDS FOR 2012!

[TA-DA!]

The Odds 'n' Ents......

BEST "PET"

Tricey the Triceratops in 'Doctor Who' - "Dinosaurs On A Space Ship"

Triceratops are my favorites of the thunder lizards. So of course Tricey would meet a bad end.......

BEST LINE
"Those are brave men knocking at our door. Let's go kill them!"- Tyrion Lannister, 'Game Of Thrones'

BEST EXCHANGE OF DIALOGUE

[TIE]
Walter Sherman: Do you really want to kill me that badly?
Detective Colman: You're annoying! Hell, it might be worth it!
('The Finder')

Victor Dubenich: So, what have you been doing for three years? Playing Robin Hood? Know what I've been doing for three years? I've been preparing for this day.
Nate Ford: Well... you'll have to do better.
Victor Dubenich: Better than killing your father? Wow. Tough room.
('Leverage')

BEST SPEECH/MONOLOGUE
“Excuse me, I have something to say. None of you may realize it, but I was very much looking forward to this weekend. It was going to be like the old days, the four of us hanging out, playing video games, before you all got girlfriends. Do you have any idea what its like to the be the only one without a girlfriend? Even if I get one someday, I’ll still be the guy who got a girl after Sheldon Cooper!” – Raj, 'The Big Bang Theory'

BEST ZONK-FILLED DIALOGUE
Kenneth Parcell: If Tracy doesn't get 14 hours of sleep, he starts to go crazy!
Tracy Jordan: We're in a show within a show! I'm Tracy Morgan!
'30 Rock'

BEST THEME SONG
"Kelsey Grammar"
As seen in '30 Rock'

BEST MUSICAL MOMENT
'The Finder'
Fight scene was set to "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealer's Wheel

BEST DREAM SEQUENCE
'The Big Bang Theory'
Sheldon Cooper's Spock action figure "came to life" (within the limits of the doll's abilities) and was voiced by Leonard Nimoy.

BEST NEW TOOBWORLD LOCATION
Mercy, Nevada, 'Doctor Who'

BEST FIGHT SCENE
'The Finder'
Shoot-out in a Miami 80's-styled bar

BEST NEW FICTIONAL BOOK
"Needy Baby, Greedy Baby", 'The Big Bang Theory'

BEST NEW FICTIONAL MOVIE
"Leap Year Williams" - '30 Rock'

BEST NEW FICTIONAL TV SHOW
'The Undiscovered Country' - 'The River'

Skitlandia
"Real Housewives of Disney" - 'Saturday Night Live'

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
DOMESTIC
'Spartacus: Blood And Sand'

IMPORTED
'State of Play'

BEST ADAPTATION FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE (aka MEDIUM)
MOVIE TO TOONIVERSE
'Napoleon Dynamite'

TV TO MOVIE
'Dark Shadows'

BOOK to TV
'Restless'

WORST ADAPTATION FROM ANOTHER UNIVERSE (MEDIUM)
TV TO MOVIE
'21 Jump Street'

BEST MOVIE THAT SHOULD BE A TV SHOW
"John Carter"

Didn't see it? I think it got a bum rap......

WORST MOVIE THAT STILL COULD BE A TV SHOW
"One For The Money"
About a female bounty hunter. Sure, 'Karen Sisco' didn't work, but that starred a show-killer. And Katherine Heigl, who starred in the original movie, should be available soon to star in the TV version. (As of this writing, she was asking to come back to 'Grey's Anatomy'.)

BEST BOOK THAT SHOULD BE A TV SHOW
"Fearful Rock" by Manly Wade Wellman

BEST BEHIND THE SCENES
IN PRINT:
Article by Josh Schwartz in Entertainment Weekly, reflecting on the end of 'Chuck'
THEY SAY EVERY END IS A NEW BEGINNING. In the spring of 2007, I was on set for the last day of shooting The O.C. when I got the call. I need to immediately watch an audition for the lead of my new pilot Chuck. The actor who had just read? Zachary Levi.

And so began the most quixotic, satisfying, and, at times, surreal journey of my career. In the fall of 2007, I was lucky enough to have not only Chuck premiere but also another series I had co-created, Gossip Girl. What were the chances given that there are seven days in a week, that both shows would air against each other? They did, and my parents upgraded to a dual DVR.

As momentum for Chuck’s first season started to build, the writer’s strike hit. We didn’t know if we’d be back. We anxiously waited almost a year to return. As season 2 came to an end, we learned that NBC was going to air The Jay Leno Show five nights a week in prime time, eliminating five hours of time slots. Once again our future was in jeopardy. We may not have been a breakout hit, but we had a passionate fan base, and when NBC released its preliminary fall schedule in 2009 and Chuck wasn’t on it, those fans mobilized.

This wasn’t just a letter writing campaign but something that involved a new weapon in a fan’s crusade to save a show: mayonnaise. We had done some not so subtle product integrations promoting Subway sandwiches (which are delicious!). So our fans hit Subway shops around the world, ordering tens of thousands of foot-long turkeys. This garnered attention on a national level. NBC took note. With a mixture of pride and awe I can tell you: Chuck was saved by sandwiches. And by the the greatest, most passionate fans in the universe.

What kept Chuck from being a runaway hit was the same thing that made those who loved it so committed: a mash-up of genres–from spy to sci-fi to romantic comedy–with a heart devoted to its characters and a soul steeped in 1980s summer-movie geek culture. Well, ’80s everything.

Co-creator Chris Fedak and I used to marvel if the 13-year-old versions of us could see the show we were making, we’d lose our minds. It was our adolescent love of Quantum Leap that led us to pursue Scott Bakula for the role of Chuck’s dad. Knowing our precarious ratings situation, Scott advised: “Keep your head down, keep making the show. Next thing you know, it’s five years later. That’s how we did it on Quantum Leap.”

Casting actors we grew up loving didn’t end there. We were unabashed in our geekdom. Doc Brown’s Christopher Lloyd playing a member of the medical profession so Chuck could call the Back to the Future star “Doc”? Check. A huge influence on Chuck was Fletch, so it was an honor to have Chevy Chase play one of our best bad guys. Of course, there would be no Chuck without James Bond. The first Bond movie I was old enough to see in theaters? The Living Daylights. So imagine the pulse-pounding excitement we felt when Timothy Dalton signed on for a season. And who else could have played Chuck’s mom than the female icon of summer movies of yore, The Terminator’s Linda Hamilton? The list goes on, and we knew our fans would be as excited about all this as we were.

Now thanks to NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt, we get to say a proper farewell to those fans with our Jan. 27 series finale. And with every end comes a new beginning. On the last day of shooting Chuck, my daughter was born. That gives you perspective. My hope is one day some kid who grew up watching our show will have a show of their own, and that kid will hire one of our talented actors to appear. Then that actor can advice that kid, “Keep your head down, keep making the show. Next thing you know, it’s five years later. That’s how we did on Chuck.”
WORST NEW SERIES TITLE
'The River'
This should have been 'The Magus' - much more interesting!

BEST EPISODE TITLE
"An Embarrassment Of Bitches" - 'Castle'

(It was an episode about show dogs.)

BEST ADVANCEMENT FOR TOOBWORLD
'Lost Girl'

A succubus as a lead, with many varieties of Faerie thrown in......

BEST SERIES MARATHON ON DVD
'Sherlock Holmes'

BEST ZONK OF THE YEAR
"Sweater Sequels" by Old Navy

BEST CLASH BETWEEN TOOBWORLD & THE REAL WORLD
'The New Normal' - the debate over Obama vs. Romney

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN A NETWORK
ABC's failure in giving 'Cougar Town' proper support. But TBS has picked up that ball and it looks to be off to a great start at its new home.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN THE GENERAL AUDIENCE
There should have been more support for 'The Finder'

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT IN MYSELF

Not keeping track better through the year so I could do a proper Toobits Awards presentation

WORST PRODUCT PLACEMENT
From the NY Times:
this example from “Pu’olo,” Monday’s episode of “Hawaii Five-0" on CBS, was particularly egregious — the most jarring, disruptive and insulting example I’ve seen. For nearly a minute, the unfortunate actors (Alex O’Loughlin, Grace Park and the former sumo wrestler Taylor Wily) stepped completely out of the story in order to plug Subway sandwiches, as the food-truck vendor Kamekona (Mr. Wily) is found eating five subs as part of his
new diet.

BEST CRITIQUE BY AN ONLINE COMMENTER
AMATEUR
Michelle Ortiz:
So I just finished watching Grey's Anatomy.... And quickly remembered why I stopped watching it in the first place. These doctors have wayyyyy too much drama going on! Omfg! I don't have any in my life thank God and God help me if I fall down a rabbit hole and end up in Grey'sLand with these mad doctors! They're insane. They have all dated each other and up and down and all around... $#!+ I am dizzy!! Just give me a bandaid for my maimed lower half before Dr. McDramaRama puts their hands on me.

PROFESSIONAL
I broke my vow and watched the inane season 3 opener of HAWAII FIVE O. The bad guy Delano breaks Wo-Fat out of prison by using a massive, CGI helicopter with a super-claw that lifts up the armored prison vehicle and drops it into the ocean...where a team of divers, straight out of SPECTRE swim up, use laser-sighted spearguns to kill the guards (WHY!? The guards were right in front of them....and DROWNING!!) and retrieve Wo Fat. Why does Delano do this? Because Delano doesn't have the resources to distribute stolen drugs...and Wo Fat does. WTF?! Delano has the resources to mount a prison break involving a specially-equipped helicopter, a super-claw, a team of divers with laser-sighted spear guns...and he can't find people to sell his drugs? But if that was the only totally lame-ass, inept, illogical plot point in the episode, I could probably live with it. But it's not. I could go on and on. The plotting on this series is perhaps the worst on dramatic television today...with stories, and I use that term lightly, that depend on the bad guys being outrageously stupid and sloppy...so the mopey, passive, totally reactive heroes can catch them by relying almost entirely on their exposition computer and lab results. Now that's drama. I really, truly, absolutely am done with this awful show.
- Lee Goldberg

BEST REVIEW OF A TV SERIES
'Danger 5' by Rob Buckley
So imagine a world where the Second World War is happening in the 1960s, Hitler is still alive and five secret agents from around the world have ganged up to try to stop the Nazis.

What do you mean, "Why?" Because I tell you to, that's why.

Actually, that's a very good question that maybe we should ask the creators of Australian show Danger 5, who seem to have taken some peyote while watching Thunderbirds, The Prisoner, The Champions, Inglourious Basterds, the Godzilla movies and huge amounts of those bizarre 1960s eurospy movies that Tanner writes about. They've come up with a very precise pastiche/homage that tries to walk the line between affectionate and mental, except the peyote is so strong the line actually looks like a blancmange being ridden by Anne of Cleves.

So we have Hitler sending out zeppelins to steal the Eiffel Tower in scenes that remind you of Derek Meddings' efforts on a bad day; someone with an eagle's head dressed like Patrick MacGoohan in The Prisoner; deliberately bad dubbing; seductive, smoking, talking robot dogs; bad accents; Champions-like telepathy; exploitation cinema bondage scenes; and more - but for no apparent reason other than it looks cool and people who love the 60s will go "Oh yes, that's from X". There's no plot coherence and no real jokes.

It looks fantastic. A lot of work has obviously gone into it. But it'll leaving you wondering what the whole thing is supposed to accomplish and why you should be watching it. Even more than Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, in fact.

BEST TELEVISIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
Alan Sepinwall of HitFix
re: 'Sherlock'
When I reviewed the first season, I wondered what crime fiction was like in a world where Sherlock Holmes stories didn't exist around the dawn of the 20th century, given how many later detectives — including TV characters like Gil Grissom, Robert Goren and Greg House — were lovingly modeled on Holmes. We get a vague answer of sorts in this season's third episode, where Inspector Lestrade explains Holmes' value to the department by calling him "CSI: Baker Street." My guess? "CSI" existed in this world, but with a different lead character.

And there you have it - another year wrapped up in Toobworld.......

HAT SQUAD TVXOHOF 2013 - "HIZZONER"

If Ed Koch never existed, and some screenwriter came up with a character who looked, sounded, and acted like him who had the second hardest job in America for three terms, I don't think the audience would have believed it.

Mayor Koch was just that, a character. But in everything he did, his love for the City of New York shone through. He was one of those people - like Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and George Burns, even Richard Simmons - who could probably only be seen as themselves by the viewing public. (In the alternate TV dimension of 'Spin City' - which also houses 'Hail To The Chief', 'Mr. President', and either 'Veep' or '1600 Penn' - Koch first appeared on the Michael J. Fox sitcom as Speaker Rosen. But he wasn't fooling anybody; everybody knew he was Koch. The show's creative team wisely accepted that for his next visit to the show.)

And Mayor Koch racked up quite an impressive tally of appearances as himself in Toobworld. And not all of them were NYC-based sitcoms - twice his presence was felt in Rome, Wisconsin!

Here's a list of those shows:

• 'Barney Miller'
  – Inauguration (1978) (voice) (uncredited) 
• 'Saturday Night Live'
   – Billy Crystal/Ed Koch/Edwin Newman/Don Novello/Betty Thomas/The Cars (1984)
  – Billy Crystal/Al Jarreau (1984)
  – Ed Koch/Kevin Rowland & Dexy's Midnight Runners (1983)
  – The Rolling Stones (1978) 
• 'Gimme a Break!'
  – The Big Apple: Part 1 (1984) 
• 'My Two Dads'
  – The Family in Question (1988)
• 'C.P.W.'
  – Days of Thunder (1995) 
• 'Double Rush'
  – The Documentary (1995) 
• 'Picket Fences'
  – Changing of the Guard (1995)
  – Turpitude (1993)

As I already mentioned, 'Spin City' takes place in an alternate TV dimension, so that Ed Koch is a doppelganger. 

 'Saturday Night Live' is an interesting case. As far as his hosting duties - the monologue, introduction of the musical acts, etc. - that was the televersion of Ed Koch in the main Toobworld. But his appearances in the sketches would take place in Skitlandia.

(Not that I cover the Cineverse, but he also played himself in a couple of movies, including "The First Wives' Club" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan".)

His first televersion was only vocal - he was heard giving his inaugural speech when he was first elected to the office of Mayor (at which time Detective Harris was given a chance to join the City Hall detail.)

And then there was his long run as the Judge on 'The People's Court', one of the few reality shows which I think can exist easily in Toobworld. (Thanks to the alternate dimension version in a Soviet controlled United States, as seen in the pilot for 'Sliders'.)

Even though this month we're showcasing Billy Dee Williams' entry into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame and I don't want to take anything away from that, I think I'll stick with the current policy of immediately inducting qualified applicants upon their passing.

And so it is that the Hall of Fame welcomes its newest member, "Hizzoner", Mayor Ed Koch......

BCnU!

THE 2012 TOOBITS AWARDS - PART THREE

THE CHARACTERS

BEST RECASTAWAY
OVERALL
Charlie Harper, 'Two And A Half Men'

Choosing Kathy Bates to play Charlie Sheen's former character was brilliant and was recognized as such with an Emmy Award.

FEMALE

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, 'Doctor Who'

A nice way to keep the heritage of the Brigadier alive......

MALE
Spartacus, 'Spartacus: Vengeance'

The fact that the recasting had the blessings of Andy Whitfield before he died, so that all the people on the crew could stay employed, drives this choice.

CHILD TO ADULT (OR IN THIS CASE, VICE VERSA)

Leslie Knope, 'Park & Recreation'

We got to see Leslie as a little girl and that little girl showed all the promise of the grown-up Miss Knope.

BEST NEW SUPPORTING FEMALE CHARACTER
Ellen Barkin, "The New Normal"
She really knows how to sling the acidic barbs without becoming totally hateful.

BEST NEW RECURRING MALE CHARACTER
Brian Williams, 'Doctor Who'

I can only hope that the exit of Rory Williams from the show doesn't mean we won't ever see his father again.

BEST ADDITION TO AN EXISTING CAST
Megan Draper - 'Mad Men'
She had a small recurring role in last season - whenever the hell that was! - but things had to kick into gear once Don married her. And she has proven to be invaluable, everything that Betty Draper could never be. Megan has provided several of the most memorable moments in this season......

BEST NEW GUEST APPEARANCE
Will O' The Wisp, 'Lost Girl'

Just funny in a grade school way in how he caused explosive fires......

BEST HISTORICAL CHARACTER

Queen Nefertiti, 'Doctor Who'

What a little vixen!

BEST NEW CHILD CHARACTER
MALE

Jake Bohm, 'Touch'

Maybe there wasn't much for him to do in physical emoting, but he delivered in the voice-overs.

FEMALE

Shania Clemmons, 'The New Normal'

Awkward but perceptive, she holds her own against so many older and more experienced actors around her.

CHARACTER MOST DESERVING TO BECOME A REGULAR
Bobby Newport, 'Parks & Recreation'

Not likely to happen, more from a perspective outside the Box, but also because of the election's outcome. Still, Paul Rudd fit right in to the world of Pawnee.

BEST NEW COMMERCIAL CHARACTER
The Daves, "Dave's World" for Staples

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES APPEARANCE
DRAMA
Bo Derek, 'Chuck' ("Chuck vs. Bo")

So evil, yet so good!

COMEDY
James Van Der Beek ('Don't Trust The B In Apartment 23')

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES APPEARANCE IN SKITLANDIA
Lindsay Lohan, "Scared Straight" sketch, 'Saturday Night Live'

BEST LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES APPEARANCE IN THE TOONIVERSE
Burt Reynolds, 'Archer'

BEST CHARACTER RETURN
Elizabeth Bishop, 'Fringe'
Dead in Earth Prime-Time and its reboot, but alive "Over There", the wife of Walter and the mother of Peter crossed over to the reboot world to plead for Walter's help in getting the third version of their son back to his Earth Prime-Time. ("The Enemy Of My Enemy")

The Great Intelligence, 'Doctor Who'

Of course it helps that, even though we never actually "saw" it, the Great Intelligence was voiced by Sir Ian McKellan! ("The Snowmen")

BEST INTRODUCTION OF A REGULAR CHARACTER
Oswin Oswald, 'Doctor Who'

And that's even though she died at the end! (Screw the spoiler alert - you should have seen it!)  I'm not sure how this will play out, especially now that we've met the late Clara Oswald, and seen her contemporary counterpart. But I trust in Moffatt.

BEST NEW ALIENS
I don't have a choice this year. Not many choices anymore in Toobworld with many sci-fi shows disappearing. Not even 'Doctor Who' came through on this score - the Kahler were just humanoids with Borg tech on their faces.

BEST NEW ALIEN VILLAIN

The Shakri and its Cubes, 'Doctor Who'

BEST NEW VILLAIN

[TIE]
Sir Richard Carlisle, 'Downton Abbey'
He just needed a mustache to twirl.

Tommy Voelker, 'The Mentalist'

His payoff will be in 2013, but that chilling final shot of him was the embodiment of evil.

BEST EXIT FOR A CHARACTER
CSI Catherine Willows from 'CSI'

BEST EXIT FOR A LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES MEMBER
Kristen Wiig, 'Saturday Night Live'

Watching her dance with each of the cast members still chokes me up.  (The video that was embedded in that blog post no longer exists.  I don't know why NBC would want to hide it away.....)

BEST "DEATH" SCENE

Amy and Rory Williams, 'Doctor Who'

They didn't die, per se, but were sent back in Time by a Weeping Angel, far enough so that they were dead by contemporary times. So there was something hopeful in that they got to live out their lives together to a ripe old age.

SADDEST DEATH SCENE
Dr. Holly Martens, 'Eureka'
Even though they found a way to bring her back to a virtual existence, there was something cold and ruthless in the way she was disconnected from the Matrix.

WORST (GRISLIEST) DEATH SCENE
'Fringe' - "The Enemy Of My Enemy"
The 16 people who died in a hospital wing "Over There" when subjected to a mysterious gas by an ally of Mr. Jones 

BEST NEW CHARACTER NAME
Anita Mandelay, 'The Mentalist'
Go ahead. Sound it out.

WORST NEW CHARACTER NAME

Xaro Xhoan Daxo, 'Game Of Thrones' (once again)

I've seen one critic just give up on trying to remember it (or spell it) and instead called him "Ducksauce".

BEST USE OF A CHARACTER'S NAME

STILL more to come!

BCnU!

THE 2012 TOOBITS AWARDS - PART TWO

And now it's on to the bread&butter of Toobworld - the crossovers!

BEST CROSSOVER

'The Finder' and 'Bones'

But it was the second crossover, "Little Green Men", the one where Hodgins wanted Walter's help in proving the existence of alien contact in a case.

BEST TRIVIAL CROSSOVER

The New York Ledger - computer printouts of stories from 3 years before - were seen in 'CSI'. The paper is the tabloid of choice in the 'Law & Order' franchise and it even had its own show in 'Deadline'.

FIRST CROSSOVER OF THE YEAR
'The Finder' - 'Bones'

Dr. Sweets of the Jeffersonian Institute traveled down to the Florida Keys in the second episode of the new series in order to evaluate Walter Sherman on the job.

BEST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER
'Rizzoli & Isles' with 'Franklin & Bash'

Probably this belongs in the Promoverse with all those old USA Network crossover interstitials.

BEST COMMERCIAL/SERIES CROSSOVER
Not so much a series crossover but with a TV special - "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" with the Windows Phone by Microsoft

BEST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER WITH A DIFFERENT MEDIUM
Mazda with Skyactiv technology & the movie "Lorax"

WORST COMMERCIAL CROSSOVER
Toyota and the Game of Life

As Ted & Georgette would say: "Don't touch that dial!  You ain't seen nothing yet!"

BCnU!

THE 2012 TOOBITS AWARDS (PART ONE)

2012 TOOBITS AWARDS

[Part One]

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 2012 can be considered. (And by "debuted", I mean that which I first came in contact with in 2012. 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 OF THE YEAR
'The Newsroom'

I almost dropped this with the episode that tried to suggest all women could be stupid, but I trusted in Sorkin to finally get back on track. And it had a wonderful pay-off by the end of its first season.

WORST NEW TV SHOW OF THE YEAR
'Work It'

I made it through only ten minutes of the first episode. I'm told I was made of sterner stuff than some others who attempted to watch it.

BEST MINI-SERIES
'Restless'

This was quite a thrilling tale of espionage spanning the decades. And a great cast! (Rufus Sewell, Hayley Atwell, Michele Dockery, Charlotte Rampling, Michael Gambon)

BEST COMMERCIAL
Samsung Galaxy 3S

I like those commercials that provide an amusing look at real life, but still don't forget they're in a TV landscape.

WORST COMMERCIAL
The trans-vaginal mesh lawsuit ads seen on niche networks like Antenna TV or Me-TV.  I will spare you peasants from seeing one.  (However, I will admit that "Transvaginal Mesh" would make for a great rock band name - although Mr. Crider might disagree with me.)

BEST IMPORT
'Restless'

BEST EPISODE, ANY GENRE
'Game Of Thrones' - "Blackwater"
This was a stirring episode full of crackling dialogue, great visuals, and exciting battles.

Here are two of the best scenes, but be warned - they are full of spoilers!

BEST TWO-PART EPISODE

'30 Rock' - "Idiots Are People Two" & "Idiots Are People Three"

I've always been vocal about my hatred for Denise Richards' acting "talents", but I have to give her props for being brave enough to bolster the image of her IQ deficiency.

BEST SEASON FINALE
'Grimm'
All wrapped up in that one word: "Mom?"

BEST SERIES FINALE

Prime-Time: 'Chuck'

It's always nice to know that Life goes on, even if we don't get to watch anymore.

Daytime: 'One Life To Live'
They did a great job in wrapping up many of the storylines, but with the hope that it would one day return somewhere else. And it looks like their prayers were answered, albeit online......

BEST SPIN-OFF
'The Finder' from 'Bones'
At the very least, considering how short a time it was with us, 'The Finder' gave us one last interesting character from Michael Clarke Duncan.

BEST HISTORICAL RECREATION
'Restless'

They not only got the world of the 1940's and the homefront during those early days of World War II right, but they got the feel of the 1970's as well. And without overdoing it with set dressing. Just the outfits worn by Michelle Dockery were enough to let us know in what era those scenes were taking place.

BEST SENSE OF ONE'S OWN HISTORY
'Leverage' - "The Last Dam Job"
Brought back the following characters for the season finale:
Victor Dubenich (from the pilot)
Colin "Chaos" Mason
Maggie Collins
Archie Leach
Quinn

BEST CLASSIC TV EXPERIENCE

The discovery of Me-TV

End of Part One.....

BCnU!

PROGRAMMING NOTE - THE 2012 TOOBITS AWARDS

Wow.....

I've been late in delivering the annual Toobits Awards in past years, but never like this! Unfortunately, there were coicumstances (of which I was a victim) - like the renovations done to the Toobworld Central office - that kept me from completing the project.

So, I'm going to spend this Super Bowl Sunday away from the televised football madness and get down to work on finishing up the Toobits Awards for 2012......

BCnU!

DA BEARS CROSS OVER FROM SKITLANDIA

1985 CHICAGO BEARS & THE SUPER BOWL SHUFFLE

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - LANCE BRIGGS IN ACTION

LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES - LANCE BRIGGS

When it comes to tonight's Super Bowl game, I don't have a horse in that rodeo. Or something like that.

So instead of choosing a player from one or the other of the teams involved, I'm going with... Da Bears!

LANCE BRIGGS

AS SEEN IN:

'Happy Endings'

["Kickball 2: The Kickening"'

From Wikipedia:

Lance Marell Briggs (born November 12, 1980) is an American football linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He was originally drafted by the Bears in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arizona.

From Stephen Douglas
Big Lead Sports:
Lance Briggs appeared on last night’s kickball episode of 'Happy Endings' and said the following when introduced:“That’s the name on my state I.D. I don’t drive. It’s too dangerous.”

'Happy Endings' is always spot on with their sports references and this one was no different. Briggs crashed his Lamborghini back in 2007, left it on the highway and reported it stolen. Tragedy + time = comedy. Good for Briggs. Apparently, he also does pilates and sees football in the stars.

BCnU!