PRESENTED WITHOUT O'BSERVATION

 

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

 

FANFIC, FIT TO A TEE

This was posted on the Classic Television Shows FB page back in January:

I happened to notice this anachronism on ‘Have Gun Will Travel’ this morning. The episode is “The Kid” (Seaon 5 Episode 15.)

Paladin is wearing a V-neck T-shirt, which did not exist in the 1870s and 1880s. During that time, men typically wore full undershirts made of wool or cotton, often with high, round necklines or buttons at the chest. The V-neck T-shirt as we know it today was not introduced until the mid-20th century, as a variation of the basic crewneck T-shirt.
[Alan DeCampli]

I think we know, as Whovians, the Time Lord responsible for this pollution of the timeline….

The Meddling Monk, of course.

I have no idea why he felt it was an important anachronism, however.

That is the stuff fanfic is for.

Care to give it a whirl? 

WHOOBY DOO, WHERE ARE YOU?

 
Well, it's not Saturday morning this year, but it's time for a cartoon anyway....

From Phillip Kelley:
This post is with thanks to Paul Burley who was a designer and held the position of art editor for Doctor Who Magazine from issues 319 to 334.

This artwork has my own favorite period of Doctor Who being the Tom Baker years. This also features Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Ian Smith as Harry Sullivan in 1975 to 1976. It coincides with the time of Scooby Doo in the seventies. Tom Baker played the Doctor for seven years.

"I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling time travelers!"
- the Cyberman.

DOCTOR WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

 
Before we get started, here’s a chance to review all of the incarnations of the Doctor who took part in adventures seen in the television series.  (Not seen are the supposed incarnations who were seen in the Fourth Incarnation’s memories during his mental battle with Morbius in “The Brain of Morbius”.)  They are not seen in any ordered sequence, at least not in any which I can discern.  But I think it’s better this way – rather in a linear fashion, like chronological order, they appear in a timey-wimey jumble.

Hopefully, I will have some kind of blog post showcasing each one individually over the next 24 hours.

2026 "WHO'S ON FIRST" BLOG-A-THON KICKS OFF!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope everybody had a great New Year's Eve?

Welcome to the 18^th anniversary edition of the "Who's On First?" blogAthon.  For the next 24 hours, there will (hopefully) be twenty-four posts about 'Doctor Who', one every hour.

I wrote this WELL in advance:
This round-the-clock celebration of 'Doctor Who' began somewhat modestly - there were only seven "episodes" for that first outing.  But it has grown to the point where for the last couple of years we have tried to present a new blog post about the universe of the Doctor every half hour.   That may not be the case this year.  We'll at least try to get one in every hour.

And I always amaze myself that I find enough topics each year.  But then, I have yet to see every episode of the 61 year old series.

Because of their time-sensitive nature, there were a few posts I published earlier in the year.  Some are just mentions of the Doctor, most of them dealt with the breaking news about the show.  If so, I'll re-post them early in the day's schedule (when it's the middle of the night for most visitors.)

This edition will hopefully be special.  (I'm setting up this post in January, 2025!)  And I see this as the perfect moment to thank everybody who came up with the wonderful memes and artwork which I hope is okay to share.  (If not, I'll replace it.)

So here it is - the kick-off to the 2026 edition of 'Who's On First'!  And as always, we begin with the frame grab from 'Robot Chicken' which has become our mascot.... 

BENOIT BLANC & TOOBWORLD'S MANIFEST DESTINY

At some point in the timeline for the "Knives Out" movie franchise, Benoit Blanc - that master detective with the Southern drawl - officially became a resident of Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld.

We don't know when it happened at any point in Blanc's unseen life between the three movies ("Knives Out", "Glass Onion", and the current entry, "Wake Up, Dead Man.")  Benoit Blanc appeared as a guest on the fictional televersion of 'The View'.

'The View' is a member of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

In fact, it may have happened even before that first movie, because Blanc was already a celebrated private detective with enough notoriety to make him recognizable to the average viewer of the talk show.

The following shows are all part of Earth Prime-Time and their characters have acknowledged the existence of ‘The View’ as being a TV series in their lives:

‘The Mountain’, ‘‘The Nanny’, ‘Gilmore Girls’, ‘Third Rock From The Sun’, ‘Just Shoot Me’, ‘Sabrina the Teenage Witch’, ‘Will & Grace’, ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’, ‘Scrubs’, ‘Reba’, ‘Veronica Mars’, ‘Bones’, ‘Entourage’, ‘Law & Order: SVU’, ’10 Things I Hate About You’, ‘Greek’, ‘Community’, ‘Cougar Town’, ‘Modern Family’, ‘Psych’, ‘Chuck’, ‘The Office’, ‘Drop Dead Diva’, ‘Hot In Cleveland’, ‘Happy Endings’, ‘90210’, ‘Workaholics’, ‘Us & Them’, ‘The Neighbors’, ‘Looking’, ‘Melissa & Joey’, ‘Faking It’, ‘Last Man Standing’, ‘Revenge’, ‘2 Broke Girls’, ‘Justified’, ‘The Jack and Triumph Show’, ‘The Big Bang Theory’, ‘Orange Is The New Black’, ‘’Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’, ‘The Muppets’, ‘Fuller House’, ‘Loosely Exactly Nicole’, ‘NCIS’, ‘The Goldbergs’.

O'Bservation - Since I posted that in 2021, other TV series may have acknowledged its existence in Toobworld.

THE 2025 ROSTER

‘The View’ also gets mentioned/watched in shows which take place in other Toobworlds – ‘The West Wing’, ‘Doom Patrol’, and a couple of shows in the horror world known as “Nosferatoob” – ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and ‘iZombie’.  Plus it has become a cottage industry to be spoofed in Skitlandia (thanks to ‘SNL’ and ‘MAD-TV’) and in the Tooniverse.  (‘Family Guy’ and ‘The Simpsons’ for example.)

Plus, there are several series in which ‘The View’ is not only mentioned, but characters from those shows appear on the talk show and interact with the televersions of the real-life hosts – Jenna Maroney of ’30 Rock’, Casey McCall of ‘SportsNight’, and a fictionalized ‘Bette’ Midler whose life in the eponymous sitcom is very different from that of Trueniverse Bette.  

Surprisingly, Daniel Craig has never appeared on 'The View'.  It would have been fun to include a screen grab from an appearance and claim it was Benoit Blanc.

TVXOHOF UPDATE - A MEMBER'S MEMORIAL

By now, everybody has heard about the tragic murders of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele.  It's taken me this long to feel up to it to writing about it for the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

I'm just glad that I was able to induct him into the TVXOHOF as a member of the League of Themselves before he died... not that he probably ever saw it.

I'm glad I was able to get him in as himself, because as far as I tell, Mike Stivic of 'All In The Family' does not qualify.  His ex-wife, his son, and his father-in-law did make it into the Hall.  (I have to do the research, but if Edith does qualify, it may be just on a technicality.)

I don't know why, but I wrote up his induction twice in March of 2017 when he turned 70 years old.

So here are the links to both blog posts

ROB REINER 1

ROB REINER 2

As Red Skelton would say, "Good night and may God bless" for both you and your wife.  You certainly never needed the TVXOHOF to vouchsafe your immortality in pop culture history, but I'm glad we added a small measure to it.

TVXOHOF CHRISTMAS HONORS LIST, 2025

For my annual Christmas Honors List for the Television Crossover H, I found inspiration in a Christmas song:

"Have a holly jolly Christmas,
and when you walk down the street.
Say hello to friends you know
and everyone you meet."

And that's why this year I'm inducting two old school friends of mine from the talking heads....

No, not the band!  I mean those friends of mine who were pundits, brought on screen to expound on their personal realms of expertise.  Usually pundits wouldn't be considered, but this is the Christmas Honors List!  The Rules are loosened like my pants after a holiday meal, and again, these two guys are old friends of mine.

And as this year is a milestone for the three of us, I figured it was as good a time as any to have them join me in the Hall.

First up....

ADMIRAL DAVID PEKOSKE

From Wikipedia:
David Peter Pekoske (born May 5, 1955) is an American government official and retired U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral who served as the seventh administrator of the Transportation Security Administration in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2017 to 2025. He served as the acting deputy secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019 and again from January to June 2021. From January 20, 2021 to February 2, 2021 he served as acting secretary of homeland security, during the Senate confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas. Pekoske retired with 33 years of active military service in 2010 as the 26th vice commandant of the Coast Guard.

Pekoske was born in Meriden, Connecticut. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in ocean engineering from the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. He is a 1989 graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University with a Master of Public Administration degree. Pekoske graduated from the MIT Sloan School of Management with an MBA in 1997.

From Alison Sider
[The Wall Street Journal]
01/21/2025

The head of the Transportation Security Administration said he was pushed out of President Trump’s new administration.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske told staff late Monday morning that he had been advised by Trump’s transition team that “my time as your Administrator will end at noon ET today,” the time of Trump’s swearing in, according to a farewell message viewed by The Wall Street Journal. CNN earlier reported on the staff message and Pekoske’s departure.

Trump named Pekoske, a former vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, as TSA administrator in 2017. President Biden re-upped him to a second five-year term in 2022. Pekoske said last year that he hoped to stay in the job. It was not immediately clear who would replace him. The Trump transition team didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

From Justin Doubleday
[The Federal News Network]

Pekoske’s ouster comes midway through his second five-year term as TSA administrator. DHS and the White House did not respond to questions about the reason behind Pekoske’s dismissal and plans for TSA leadership moving forward.

Trump first nominated Pekoske to serve as TSA administrator in 2017. After being re-nominated by President Joe Biden, the Senate confirmed Pekoske for a second five-year term in 2022.

During his tenure, TSA worked with Congress to grant the agency’s screening workforce a historic pay increase. TSA also negotiated an expanded collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees.

Just my O'Bservation, but I think being jettisoned from a position in the second term of His Flatulence Drumpf was the best thing to happen to David.  He won't be tarred and pilloried with the incompetents who would have been surrounding him.

Just my two quatloos....

Here are just a few of the programs on which he appeared.  Usually he made the rounds during travel periods of high volume; I think there were a few guest spots in times of crisis for the TSA.

This is hardly a complete list....

GOOD MORNING AMERICA
TSA Administrator
4 episodes
2022–2024

TODAY

TSA Administrator
5 episodes
2021–2024

CBS MORNINGS

TSA Administrator
2 episodes
2021–2024

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS with LESTER HOLT
TSA Administrator
1 episode
2024

FOX NEWS LIVE
(as TSA Administrator David Pekoske)
1 episode
2018

I know he also appeared at least once on MORNING JOE where he was interviewed by Joe Scarborough regarding the holiday travel rush.

“True terror is to wake up one morning
and discover that your high school class is running the country.”
Kurt Vonnegut

Actually, in this case, I thought it was kind of cool.

And for my next school friend to join me (Birthday Honors 2005) in the TVXOHOF, a space case if I ever knew one...

KEITH COWING

From Wikipedia:
Keith Cowing is an American astrobiologist, former NASA employee, and the editor of the American space program blog NASA Watch. He is a credentialed NASA journalist and is known to be a critic of NASA activities and policies.

NASA Watch is a website blog which provides insider information and commentary about the United States space program and the U.S. government agency, NASA. The first posting was in March, 1996. Cowing is a strong supporter of human spaceflight. Cowing started the website when Daniel Goldin was administrator of NASA and at that time expressed harsh criticism of Goldin's policies. The inciting event for Keith was the mass layoffs in the transition from Space Station Freedom to the International Space Station. For several years, NASA refused to accredit Cowing as a journalist and denied him access to NASA media events. Cowing was eventually granted full press accreditation.

Cowing was a firm supporter of Goldin's successor as administrator, Sean O'Keefe, appointed by George W. Bush. Cowing also obtained exclusive first-hand information about the genesis of the Vision for Space Exploration, detailed in the book "New Moon Rising" which Cowing wrote with Frank Sietzen.

From MuckRack
Keith Cowing is trained as a biologist (M.A. and B.A. degrees) and has a multidisciplinary background with experience and expertise that ranges from spacecraft payload integration and biomedical peer review to journalism and website authoring. He once worked as a professional Sign Language interpreter. Keith has participated in 3 month-long expeditions to a remote island near the North Pole and spent a month living at Everest Base Camp covering the first ascent of that mountain by an astronaut. Keith also likes to restore old spacecraft and retrieve their data - especially when the experts tell him that such things are impossible.

From cowing.com
Keith has appeared hundreds of times on television and radio including ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, Fox, NPR, CSPAN, VOA, CNN, PBS, CBC, CTV, CGTN, Discovery Channel, NHK, BBC, Deutsche Welle, and the Travel Channel and has been quoted in a number of newspapers and magazines ranging from The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times to The Economist, Wired, and Pravda, among others. Keith appears regularly as a guest on BBC TV and radio and on CGTN.

I'm afraid I don't have all those hundreds of times he appeared on TV, but I have enough to satisfy the requirements.  (Even though the Rules are often cast aside when it comes to Honors List inductees.)

NOVA
[special thanks]
1  episode
2008

WORLD TODAY

SABC-TV [South Africa]

TAGESSCHAU
Self
1 episode
2024

CNN THIS MORNING

Self
1 episode
2021

ALL IN with CHRIS HAYES
[MSNBC]

BBC

MORNING EXPRESS with ROBIN MEADE
Self (archive footage)
1 episode
2021

DEUTSCHE WELLE (Germany)

CBTN (China)

He even showed he was a real trouper by appearing on CNN on his birthday!

It's nice to have a couple of Meridenites with me in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  They will probably be the only ones, but at least one of my friends from the UConn Theater Department joined me - Shirley Jordan as a Conflated Nurse.  And trumpeter Rebecca Steinberg, daughter of another UConn Drama Gumby (Beth Brooks Steinberg), is in as well as a member of the League of Themselves.

Merry Christmas, Team Toobworld!