THE HAT SQUAD 2025 - BEHIND THE SCENES

 

BEHIND THE SCENES

DIRECTORS
Manjul Sinha ('Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi', 'Yeh Hai Mumbai Meri Jaan')
Jeannot Swarc ('Grey's Anatomy', 'Bones', 'Smallville', 'JAG', 'The Practice', 'Kojak', 'Night Gallery', 'Without A Trace', 'Heroes', 'Columbo', 'Cold Case', 'Fringe')
Carlos Diegues ("Os Filhos do Medo", 'Brasil que Vale', 'Material Bruto')
Marty Callner ('On Location', 'Standing Room Only', many comedy/music specials)
Rick Levine (Commercials - Diet Pepsi, Wells Fargo....)
James Foley ('House of Cards', 'Billions', 'Twin Peaks', 'Hannibal', "Red Zone")
William Cran ('Frontline' documentarian)
Diane Martel ('Dropout', music videos for Miley Cyrus, Mariah Carey, Robin Thicke)
Dave Roberts (WTVR CBS-6 studio director)


WRITERS
Jules Feiffer ('Faerie Tale Theatre', 'Great Performance', 'Quest', 'Comedy Zone')
David Steven Cohen ('Courage the Cowardly Dog', 'Parker Lewis Can't Lose')
L.J. Smith (Author of 7 books in the "Vampire Diaries" series.)
Peter David ('Space Cases', 'Babylon 5', 'Ben 10: Alien Force/Ultimate Alien')
Martin Cruz Smith ("The Art of Crime")
Rose Leiman Goldemberg ("Burning Bed", "The Stone Pillow", "Letters Home")
Steve Hayden (1984 Apple commercial, 'Welcome Back, Kotter', "Hello, Moto")
Alfa-Betty Olsen ('The Great American Dream Machine', 'Dick Cavett Show')
Stephen Downing ('Dragnet', 'Adam-12', Showrunner for 'MacGyver', LAPD cop)
D.L. Coburn (Pulitzer winner for "The Gin Game" - five TV versions, three of them foreign versions.  First American version featured married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy.  The last American TV movie had Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore.)

PRODUCERS
Allyce Ozarski ('SMILF', 'GOLF', 'Super Pumped', 'Baskets', 'The L Word: Generation Q', 'I Love That For You', 'I Love You, America' [Emmy nominated]) 
Roberto Orci ('Fringe', 'Hawaii Five-0'B, 'Scorpion', 'Sleepy Hollow', 'Alias', 'Matador', 'Limitless', 'Transformers Prime', 'Jack Of All Trades')
Peter Engel ('Saved By The Bell' franchise, 'City Guys', 'USA High', 'Hang Time', 'Malibu, Ca', 'California Dreams', 'How To Survive A Marriage', 'Sirota's Court', 'The Ice Palace', 'One World', 'Last Comic Standing')
Bill Dare ('Spitting Image', 'Dead Ringers', 'The Now Show')
Stanley R. Jaffe ('Fatal Attraction')
John Brenkus ('Science Live!', 'Sport Science', 'Car Warriors', 'Known Universe') 
Joseph Lovett (CBS & ABC TV specials about AIDS)
Jim McLaughlin (CBS 'Sunday Morning')
John Masius ('St. Elsewhere', 'Providence', 'Touched By Angel')
Jerry Mazza (CBS News)

MUSIC
Garth Hudson (Last of The Band, "Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band", 'Saturday Night Live', "Woodstock Diary", "Love For Levon", 'Classic Albums')
Alf Clausen ('The Simpsons', 'Moonlighting', 'ALF', 'The Critic', 'Bette')
Lalo Schifrin ('Mission: Impossible', 'Medical Center', 'Mannix', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'Petrocelli', 'Blue Light', 'The Young Lawyers', 'Planet of the Apes', 'The Partners', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', 'Most Wanted', 'Bronk', 'Glitter', 'T.H.E. Cat', 'A.D.') 
Mark Snow ('The X-Files', 'Blue Bloods', 'Smallville', 'Ghost Whisperer', 'Hart To Hart', 'Falcon Crest', 'Millennium', 'Dark Justice', 'Nowhere Man',  'The Twilight Zone 2002', ' 'One Tree Hill', 'Starsky & Hutch', 'Family') 
Alan Bergman ('Alice', 'In The Heat Of The Night', 'Good Times', 'Maude')
Sonny Curtis ('The Mary Tyler Moore Show', 'The Mary Tyler Moore Hour', & 'Evening Shade' themes, "I Fought The Law" - used in 'EastEnders', 'The Simpsons', 'Miami Vice', 'Cheers', 'The Wonder Years', 'Hawaii Five-0', many others)
Cleto Escobedo III (Leader of The Cletones for his childhood friend Jimmy Kimmel)

ANIMATION
Jim Smith ('Ren & Stimpy', 'Samurai Jack', co-founder of SpumCo)

CAMERA
David Dorsett ('The Late Show with David Letterman' - 8 emmys)|

EDITOR
Seth Fox (CBS Evening News)


ART DIRECTOR
Ron Travisano (Meow Mix, Joe Isuzu, Pan Am, Reagan Campaign, NY Mets)
Renato Casaro (Artist who made posters for Italian release of episodes from TV Western 'Stories Of The Century')
Drew Struzan (Posters for 'Mob City', '80th Academy Awards')

SET DESIGN
John Conklin ("Carmen", "In The Penal Colony", "I Lombardi", "Lizzie Borden")

COSTUMES
Phyllis Dalton ("The Scarlet Pimpernel", "The Plot To Kill Hitler", "The Last Days of Patton", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Magic Moments", "Arthur the King")
Theodore Pistek ('The Visitors', 'Dune', 'Children of Dune', 'Arabela', 'Pan Tau')

MAKEUP & HAIR
Greg Cannom ("Gleason", 'Tales From The Crypt', 'Werewolf', 'Any Day Now', "Thriller") 

STAGE MANAGER
Lisa Treadwell (CBS News stage manager)

PUPPETRY

THE HAT SQUAD 2025 - HYPHENATES & OTHERS

 

THE HAT SQUAD 2025 -
HYPHENATES & OTHERS

HYPHENATES
Wayne Osmond (ACTOR - 'The Travels of Jamie McPheeters', "It Nearly Wasn't Christmas", SELF - 'The Osmond Family Show', 'The Andy Williams Show',  'Donny and Marie', PRODUCER - "The Gift of Love")
Peter Yarrow (COMPOSER - "Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody", COMPOSER & ACTOR - "Puff the Magic Dragon", "Puff the Magic Dragon in the Land of Living Lies", ACTOR - "Matthew and Ophelia's Wonderful World of Fun")
Barbara Clegg (ACTRESS - 'Emergency Ward 10', 'Strange Concealments', WRITER - 'Doctor Who', 'Coronation 'Street')
David Lynch (DIRECTOR/WRITER/ACTOR - 'Twin Peaks', 'The Weather Report', WRITER - 'On The Air', ACTOR - 'The Cleveland Show', 'Louie')
Barry Michael Cooper (PRODUCER/WRITER - 'She's Gotta Have It', WRITER - "Private Times", PRODUCER - 'American Gangster')
Marianne Faithfull (ACTRESS - 'Absolutely Fabulous', SELF - 'FM', 'Top of The Pops', 'Saturday Night Live',  EITHER/OR - 'Screen Two')
Dick Button (SELF - Figure Skater [2 Gold medals], 'Animaniacs', Sports Commentator [1 Emmy],  'The Ed Sullivan Show', ACTOR - 'Beverly Hills 90210', SPOOFED - Played by Phil Hartman, 'Saturday Night Live')
Joseph Wambaugh (CREATOR/WRITER/ACTOR - 'Police Story', 'The Blue Knight', WRITER - "The Glitter Dome", "Echoes In The Darkness",  REFERENCED - "Columbo')
Athol Fugard (WRITER - "Master Harold... and the Boys", "Oya", ACTOR - 'One Life To Live')
Wink Martindale ('High Rollers', 'What's This Song?', 'Gambit', 'Tic Tac Dough', 'Headline Chasers' ACTOR - 'Mars Patrol', 'Hilton Head Island', 'Bold & Beautiful')
Don Mischer (13 Primetime Emmy Awards, DIRECTOR - Oscars, Super Bowl half-time shows, the Obama Inauguration celebration, Kennedy Center honors, 'Murder, She Wrote', 'It's Garry Shandling's Show' PRODUCER - Emmy Award shows, White House Correspondents' Dinner, Tony Awards, Super Bowls, music specials
Jill Sobule (SELF - 'The West Wing', 'Treme', 'The Simpsons' [TVXOHOF] MUSIC - 'In-Laws',  'Unfabulous')
Terry Louise Fischer (PRODUCER/WRITER - 'LA Law', 'Cagney & Lacey')
Bobby Sherman (ACTOR - 'Here Come The Brides', 'Getting Together'/'The Partridge Family', 'Sanchez of Bel-Air', SELF - 'Shindig', 'Frasier', "Old Faithful")
Gailard Sartain (ACTOR - 'Hey, Vern! It's Ernest!', 'Arli$$', 'The Simpsons', SELF - 'Hee Haw', 'The Sonny & Cher Show', 'Hee Haw Honeys', 'Keep On Truckin'')
Jane Stanton Hitchcock (WRITER - "Trick of the Eye", SELF - 'The Name's The Same')
Jimmy Swaggart (SELF - Televangelist, PLAYED BY - Jonah Lees, 'Sun Records', Phil Hartman, 'Saturday Night Live')
Connie Francis (ACTRESS - "The Sister and the Savage" PLAYED BY - LeAnn Rimes, 'American Dreams')
Charles Augin (ACTOR - 'Blake's 7', 'Alas Smith and Jones', 'Capital City', "Treasure Island" CHOREOGRAPHER - "Porgy & Bess", "Billy's Christmas Angels", 'The Hot Shoe Show' BOTH - 'Red Dwarf', 'In Exile') 
Chuck Mangione (SELF - 'King of the Hill', ACTOR - 'Magnum, P.I.')
Hulk Hogan (SELF - 'The Love Boat', 'The A-Team', 'The Goldbergs', 'Search For Tomorrow', 'Suddenly, Susan', 'American Dad!', TVXOHOF, ACTOR - "Goldie And The Bears", 'Baywatch', 'Thunder In Paradise', 'China, Il.', 'Walker, Texas Ranger')
Cleo Laine (ACTRESS - "The Last of the Blonde Bombshells", "The Three Princes" SELF - 'The Muppet Show', 'Tonight with Johnny Carson', 'Mike Douglas Show')
Gary Smith (PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/WRITER - Many AFI TV specials)
Jane Morgan (ACTRESS - 'Peter Gunn', 'It Takes A Thief', SELF - 'The Ed Sullivan Show', 'Tonight with Johnny Carson', 'The Merv Griffin Show', 'Password', 'American Bandstand', 'Person To Person', 'What's My Line', 'Kraft Music Hall')
Joel DeMott (DIRECTOR - "Seventeen", CINEMATOGRAPHER - "Energy War")
Ronnie Rondell, Jr. (ACTOR - 'Laramie', 'The Virginian', 'Fantasy Island' STUNTMAN - 'Hart To Hart', 'Dynasty', ''Charlie's Angels', 'SWAT')
Jerry Adler (ACTOR - 'The Sopranos', 'Rescue Me', 'The Good Wife/Fight', 'Mad About You', 'Raising Dad', 'Alright Already', 'Hudson Street', STAGE MANAGER -  'Santa Barbara', 'Search For Tomorrow', "Night of 100 Stars II', "39th Annual Tony Awards")
Frank Price (WRITER - 'Westinghouse Studio One', 'The Web', 'Suspense', STUDIO HEAD - Universal TV, developed the made for TV movie concept and the 90 minute TV series format)
Bobby Hart (COMPOSER - 'The Days Of Our Lives' theme, music for 'The Monkees' SELF - 'Bewitched', 'I Dream Of Jeannie', 'The Flying Nun')
Robert Redford (ACTOR - 'The Twilight Zone', 'Perry Mason', 'Maverick', 'Tanner on Tanner', PRODUCER - 'Dark Winds', 'Death Row Stories', 'Iconoclasts', 'The American West', 'Chicagoland', 'Ocean Warriors')
Henry Jaglom (movie director who started as an actor 'Gidget', 'The Flying Nun')
Joan Kennedy (SELF - 'The $64,000.00 Question', Maxwell House coffee commercial, PORTRAYED BY - Former wife of Senator Edward Kennedy, portrayed by Leslie Stefanson in "Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot")
Rob Reiner (ACTOR - 'All In The Family', 'New Girl', 'The Bear', 'Gomer Pyle', 'The Partridge Family', 'That Girl' WRITER - 'The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour', 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', 'The Super' , "Million Dollar Infield", "More Than Friends"  DIRECTOR -  "8", "Everyday Life", "Sonny Boy"  COMBOS - 'Morton & Hayes', 'Free Country') 
Kevin Arkadie (WRITER/PRODUCER - 'New York Undercover', 'Chicago Hope', 'NYPD Blue', 'The Shield', 'Ambitions', 'Sacrifice')
John Mulrooney (SELF - 'Comic Strip Live', 'The New Hollywood Squares', 'The Late Show' ACTOR - 'Ellen', 'Hardball', '1st & Ten')
Bob Broder (ACTOR - 'Cheers', HEALTH & SAFETY DEPT. - 'Madoff')

OTHERS
Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston (Memoir "Farewell to Manzanar," about life in WWII internment  camp, became the basis for a TV movie by the same name)
Ron Nessen, Ford's press secretary ('Saturday Night Live', 'Bicentennial Minute')
Gene Winfield (Vehicle Fabricator - Built the Galileo shuttlecraft 'Star Trek', the Piranha for 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.', the Reactor was used in 'Bewitched', 'Mission Impossible', 'Batman', & Star Trek')
Pope Francis (Played by Jonathan Pryce and Juan Minujin [as young Jorge Mario Bergoglio] in "The Two Popes", and by Kyle Mooney on 'Saturday Night Live' 2x)
David Lazer (Former IBM exec who hired Jim Henson's Muppets to appear in corporate films and then later was hired by Henson to run the Muppet empire.)
Dame Jillian Sackler (Philanthropist and defender of the evil pharmaceutical empire.  Portrayed by Catherine Tait in "Painkiller".)
Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs (Was sentenced to death but commuted to life in prison for her participation in police murders in Florida.  Reversed on appeal. Played by Susan Sarandon in "Exonerated".)
"Papa Jake" Larson (TikTok star, 102, survivor of D-Day, Emmy winner for Amanpour talk)
Leonard Tow (SVP TelePrompTer, founded Century Communications, CableVision)
Robert Barnett (High-powered Washington lawyer, husband of CBS' Rita Braver
Leo Hindery, Jr. (Ran the Yankees YES network)
Paul Ekman ("Face Reader", inspired the main character of the series 'Lie To Me')

ON THE PROFESSOR'S BIRTHDAY

Today, Toobworld Central is remembering
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
on the 134th anniversary of his birth.

In the greater TV Universe, J.R.R. Tolkien and his writings are represented in several alternate Toobworlds.  “The Hobbit” and “The Return Of The King” were both animated and are considered part of the Tooniverse.  Gollum and Frodo showed up in sketches on ‘Saturday Night Live’, thus placing them in Skitlandia.  

And a TV movie based on his early adult life could be considered part of the man Toobworld – Earth Prime-Time – but it’s definitely part of the TV dimensions which is comprised of made-for-TV movies.

He also exists in the alternate dimension of Toobworld DC (‘Legends of Tomorrow’ and in an as-yet-unnamed TV dimension in which Tolkien’s faith was examined (‘A Question of God’).    

'Legends of Tomorrow'

O’Bservation: During RTD’s first tenure as the showrunner of ‘Doctor Who’, the Time Lord met a series of writers – Christie, Shakespeare, Dickens, Mary Shelley, King James 1, HG Wells, and Bracebridge Hemyng.  (Look him up!)

Tolkien as seen in
"CS Lewis: Beyond Narnia"

(My fanfic fantasy involved the Doctor and Tolkien in an adventure, with Tolkien inspired to create the Ents after meeting the humanoid trees from the Forest of Cheem.)

I’ve only seen one episode of “The Rings of Power” so I can’t make a qualified assessment as to whether or not it belongs in Earth Prime-Time.  I’m tempted to add yet another TV dimension called “Middle-Earth Prime-Time”.  (O’Bservation: I didn’t care for that first episode; I found it boring.)

As far as references to his world of Middle-Earth go, I think it’s a safe bet that most of the mentions by TV characters deal with the Peter Jackson movies.

The Tolkien Televersion ('Columbo')
&
The Professor His Own Self

O’Bservation: I even posited a theory that Tolkien was actually seen in the main Toobworld, and Lt. Columbo sat right next to him!

In the latest episode of ‘Harry Wild’ (a special movie entitled “You Are Cordially Invited To An Assassination”), the topic of the movie adaptations versus the original books comes up near the beginning….

I accept that ‘Harry Wild’ is part of Earth Prime-Time.  So if “Rings of Power” does get absorbed into the main Toobworld, there will have to be a splainin to do to reconcile the books and the adaptation (plus the references to the movies) all being in the same TV dimension.

And I think I have one….

The televersion of J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the novels, but they were actually based on the historical record set down in the Red Book of Westmarch.  And so if ‘Rings Of Power’ is accepted as part of the main Toobworld, the adaptations of his account, which was already diluted by his use of more common names and other words instead of the original Shire-speak, should be considered TV adaptations within the TV Universe and not as the actual, factual, historical depictions.  

If there be scenes which were created specifically for the series, then we could assume the Red Book of Westmarch, as well as “The Lord Of The Rings,’ is different from the books we know here in the Trueniverse, Earth Prime.  They include chapters which don’t exist in our world, making the trilogy even heftier!

Well, that’s my splainin to do, anyway.

Here’s to you, Professor…. 

TVXOHOF, JANUARY 2026 - REMEMBERING DENNIS MITCHELL

Every January, the Television Crossover Hall of Fame kicks off another year of inductions into the Hall with a classic TV character.  This year is no different, but I never would have guessed this entry would be so sad.  And so soon.

DENNIS MITCHELL

From The Hollywood Reporter:
Jay North, who starred as the young mischief maker with the characteristic blond cowlick on the 1959-63 CBS comedy 'Dennis the Menace', has died. He was 73.

On Sunday, 04/07/2025, Jay North died at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, after years of battling colon cancer, according to Jeannie Russell, who played Margaret Wade on his show, told The Hollywood Reporter. She called him her “otherworldly brother.”

Here are the credits which qualified him for membership in the Hall....

DENNIS THE MENACE
149 EPISODES (1959-1963)

From the IMDb:
The live-action adaptation of the Hank Ketcham comic strip of the same name. Dennis Mitchell was a loveable young boy, dressed in overalls and carrying a slingshot in his pocket. Everywhere he went, Dennis' wide-eyed curiosity, well-meaning attempts to help out, and his simply being a normal, red-blooded American boy growing up always seemed to lead to trouble. Usually on the receiving end was Dennis' next-door neighbor, retired business machine salesman George Wilson.

Dennis worshiped Mr. Wilson, but he usually displayed a less-than-cordial attitude around the young lad. Mr. Wilson's wife, Martha, adored Dennis and saw him as a surrogate grandson (since the Wilsons never had any children). Dennis' long-suffering parents were Henry (an engineer) and Alice (a stay-at-home mother).

Episodes revolved around Dennis' adventures and the trouble that usually followed. Also involved in the fun were Dennis' friends Tommy, Margaret, and Seymour. During the final year of the show, Mr. Wilson's brother, John, moved in after George and Martha left the neighborhood (due to the death of Joseph Kearns). The live-action "Dennis the Menace" ran for years in syndication; an animated series showed up in the 1980s.—Brian Rathjen

THE DONNA REED SHOW
DONNA DECORATES (1960)

From the IMDb:
Donna has her kitchen remodeled and new appliances installed.

While crossover appearances are not uncommon in television shows (it is an easy way to promote a second show), this particular instance was unusual. Even though the two shows were produced by the same studio (Columbia), they were broadcast by different networks. Donna's show was on ABC while Dennis' show was on CBS.

Jay North and Joseph Kearns reprise their roles from the CBS series "Dennis the Menace" in this episode, which aired on ABC. This marks one of the earliest times in TV history that two scripted series on different networks cooperated on a multi-network crossover, not counting variety shows.

SKITLANDIA

THE RED SKELTON HOUR
FREDDIE'S MILLIONS (1960)

From the IMDb:
Just as he's about to apply for unemployment insurance, Freddie the Freeloader finds himself a multimillionaire, but has to contend with small boys, newspapers, bureaucrats and police.

O'Bservation:
North plays Dennis in this episode.  Two seasons later, he returns, playing himself.  So Freddie is one of those rare TV characters to meet both the actor and the character he played.)

COMMERCIALS
FOR RICE KRISPIES, BOSCO'S, BEST FOOD MAYONNAISE, SKIPPY PEANUT BUTTER

O’Bservations:
I can only vouch for the Skippy and Rice Krispies commercials that North appeared as Dennis.  Both can be found online.

Because he also appeared in the commercial for Skippy, George Wilson (as played by Joseph Kearns) will one day be inducted into the TVXOHOF as well.  (That's Gale Gordon as George's brother John in the Rice Krispies picture above.)

As Red Skelton would say, “Good night and may God bless.”
Welcome to the TVXOHOF, Dennis….

THE POWER OF DONNA

 

Donna showed that she had power even before she became "Doctor/Donna".  She understood her self-worth and was not afraid to show that.

ACTORS IN BOTH 'DOCTOR WHO' & THE 'HARRY POTTER' FRANCHISE

 

THE INCARNATIONS Q&A - "ARE YOU A WOKE WARRIOR?"

 

AGE OF THE DOCTOR

 

Here's a theory from Facebook (February, 2025):

Simple - pre-Time war the doctor uses Gallifreyan years.

Post-Time War it's Earth years.
- Sean Mills

RACY LINE OF THOUGHT....

 

A TWO-BEATER TOOBIT

From "DOCTOR WHO FANS UNITE":

At the time of filming her regeneration scene, Jodie Whittaker was pregnant.

This makes her the first actor playing the Doctor to officially have two hearts in her body.