AS SEEN ON TV: A QUICK NOTE

Today's Hat Squad for Dom DiMaggio also serves as today's "As Seen On TV" showcase for the DiMaggio Brothers......

BCnU!

SKIMBLE SKAMBLE STUFF

I was looking through the Toobworld Central archives yesterday, and I came across the Shakespearean heading of "Skimble Skamble Stuff". I haven't used that in a while, but it would be for a collection of TV odds and ends.

And by the great god of TV Coincidence, I have a goodly sized mish-mash of them ready to go!

1] 'Harper's Island' is 17 miles off the coast of Seattle.

2] In 2002, John Wakefield killed six people on 'Harper's Island'.

3] Two wineries in the D.C. area - 'Bedford Creek' winery and Dunwood Winery. ('Bones')

4] The Dunwood winery had been in the Dunwood family since 1928. ('Bones')

5] 'Hope's Edge' is a soap opera. ('The Ghost Whisperer')

6] Spoilerfest.com is a website that gives away info on upcoming movies and TV shows. ('The Ghost Whisperer')

7] Speckled Stallion had the 3rd longest set at Woodstock, after The Who. ('Law & Order: Criminal Intent')

8] "Dark Days" was the name of their album. ('Law & Order: Criminal Intent')

9] NYPD Detective Hank O'Shea worked the Malcolm X murder. ('The Unusuals')

10] 'Tempest Island' was a TV soap opera in which Dr. Phillip battled the Cassetti family.

11] An accountant named Cal at Ojai Foods used to be a minor league ball-player. By an amazing "coincidence", he has a twin brother who also plays minor league ball - Rafael Ramirez. ('In Plain Sight')

12) Richard Castle has had 26 best-selling mystery novels. ('Castle')

13) "Birth Of Fear 3" is a movie that is already overseas for foreign distribution. ('The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency')

14) There is a SavingsMart in Yonkers; it's much like WalMart, CostCo, Buy More, and Workbench. ('Law & Order')

15) More TV cereals - Berry Boom & Cocoa Munchees from 'Fringe'. And Nuts&More from 'In Plain Sight'. It was previously seen in 'Chuck' and 'Grey's Anatomy'. There was also a box of Nuts & Oats, but I can't remember from where.

16) Malcolm Ross is trying to market Sacred Turtle Beer. ('Harper's Island')

Finally, the following birthday's were listed on 'Harper's Island':

Trish Wellington - 11/22
Shea Allen - 2/20
Chloe Carter - 9/17/1983
Beth Barrington - 8/21
Lucy Daramour - 7/19/1982
Abby Mills- 4/25/1983
Francine Wellington - 2/11
Jennifer Stanwyck - 12/27
Keira Riddle - 8/2

That's all for now!

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: DOM DiMAGGIO

The Red Sox announced today that Dominic DiMaggio, who had been a seven-time all-star for the team he played on for eleven seasons, died at the age of 92 on Friday.

As everybody must know, his brother was Joe DiMaggio who played for the rival New York Yankees.

Both of them, along with their brother Vinnie, were portrayed in a fake commercial for DiMaggio's On The Wharf seafood restaurant. Seen on SCTV back in 1982, Eugene Levy played Dom (pictured on the right) and Martin Short as Vinnie (on the left). And as "Joltin' Joe"? Special guest star Bill Murray.

The gimmick of the restaurant was that if you could throw one past Joe, you'd get your meal free.



BCnU!

FAVORITE TV MOMENTS

MediumRob, of "The Medium Is Not Enough" infamy (link to the left, Lotus Eaters!), posted his weekly meme challenge:

"What's your favorite TV moment?"

(Okay, I think he spelled it with a "u"...)

So here's what I posted:

Okay, just to get some true TV moments out of the way:

The big good-bye scene in 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show': When Lou's voice cracks with "I treasure you people", the lump in my throat is almost unbearable.

From 'The West Wing': "I serve at the pleasure of the President." Always makes me want to join their merry band and throw my lot in with them.

'The Prisoner' - from the finale, but not the Big Reveal of Number One. It's the road trip afterwards as they head back to London.

'Lost' - from the first season finale as they launch Michael's boat. It's that swell of Michael Giacchino's music that sells it for me.

Thanks, Rob, for mentioning Uncle Bryn's reading of the letter.

Boy, I'm going for some sappy ones here. But if they can affect an old cynic like me, they have to be good.

It wouldn't be proper not to have a 'Who' mention here - "Blink", the goodbye to Billy scene leading into Sally galvanizing for action (again, music helps.) But for instant shock value, when she stands up from getting the key and the angel behind her has changed position.

And then my first exposure to 'Monty Python' courtesy of a US summer replacement show called 'Comedy World' - presented as a fake news program. The two sketches shown were of the flasher with the "Boo" sign and of the milkman enticed to come upstairs. At the time I wanted to see more - if there was the promise of seeing Carol Cleveland in lingerie again. Of course later that took a back seat to the off the wall humor.

Okay, here's my TRUE favorite TV moment - and it didn't even happen on TV!

July, 1969 - I'm at Boy Scout camp in Connecticut when one of the counselors stands up at dinner and makes an announcement:

"I have some very sad news to report...." And immediately my mind leaps to the moon landing which was going on but being at camp, I couldn't see it! I'm thinking the crew is all dead on the Moon.

"Clarence the Cross-Eyed Lion is dead."

Probably my first case of a TV double-fake. Later it did hit me for what it was, as I liked that show 'Daktari'......

Actually, I have another one of similar nature. I was up at the Lake cottage with my family, back in the 80s, when I was watching an episode of 'Cagney & Lacey' with my Dad and one of my brothers.

It's the episode in which Cagney sparred with a famous hotel burglar named Grand; he even wrote a book about his exploits. You can probably guess the title of the book.....

Suddenly, my Dad turns to me and AJ and says, "I just want you guys to know that I love you."

Dad wasn't one of those touchy-feely new age Dads who would say something like that. We were caught off-guard by it and were only able to just mumble an "I love you" in return. But that's something I treasure and if TV sparked it, I'm grateful.

I've gone over that episode in my head ever since and hope to see it again someday, but I can't figure out what may have inspired him to say it.

And as I was putting together this post, I suddenly remembered I had forgotten one, so I went back:

Ahhh! I forgot one, which I was going to add after the 'West Wing' moment -
In the 1st season finale of 'Slings & Arrows', when the young actor nails all of the checkpoints for playing 'Hamlet' in his debut. That actually had me thrusting my fist in the air and shouting "Yeah!"

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: P.T. BARNUM

Just because we're inducting Queen Victoria today into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, that doesn't mean we should abandon our daily "As Seen On TV" feature.

And so today we have a man who met Queen Victoria:

Normally I'd prefer an actual scene rather than a promo picture, but since Barnum was such a showman, I thought this was an appropriate image to represent him.

Here is an actual scene from "Barnum", in which P.T. pitches woo:

And here is a portrait of Barnum with perhaps his most famous star, Tom Thumb:

AS SEEN IN:
"Barnum"

AS PLAYED BY:
BEAU BRIDGES

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 05/2009-B: VICTORIA REGINA

For the second week of our "May Queen" inductions into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, we're going with a real Queen - Victoria, the ruler of the British Empire who gave her name to an age.

Here is a list of the actresses who have played Queen Victoria on Television:

Patti Allan
. . . "The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne" (2000)

Avril Angers
. . . "Network First: Victoria and Albert" (1997)

Renée Asherson
. . . "Happy and Glorious" (1952)

Pamela Binns
. . . "Omnibus" (1967) {Landseer: A Victorian Comedy}

Anita Björk
. . . "Den goda viljan" (1991)

Claire Bloom
. . . "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1950) {Victoria Regina (#8.31)}

Honora Burke
. . . Hands of a Murderer (1990)













Pauline Collins
. . . "Doctor Who" (2005) {Tooth and Claw (#2.2)}













Fay Compton
. . . "Journey to the Unknown" (1968) {Poor Butterfly (#1.6)}













Jane Connell
. . . "Bewitched" (1964) {Aunt Clara's Victoria Victory (#3.26)}













Annette Crosbie
. . . "Edward the Seventh" (1975)

Alice De Mallet De Donas
. . . "Red Dwarf" (1988) {Meltdown (#4.6)}













Janine Duvitski
. . . The Young Visiters (2003)

Mavis Edwards (Older)
. . . "Fall of Eagles" (1974) {The Last Tsar (#1.5)}












Victoria Hamilton
. . . . "Victoria & Albert" (2001)

Julie Harris
. . . "Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1951) {Victoria Regina}

Lauren Hartley
. . . Victorians Uncovered: The Perfect Marriage (2001)













Helen Hayes
. . . "Robert Montgomery Presents" (1950) {Victoria Regina (#2.10)}

Margaret Heale
. . . "Rhodes" (1996)













Jacquelyn Hyde
. . . The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979)

Glenda Jackson
. . . "The Morecambe & Wise Show" (1968) {1972 Christmas Show}

Pamela Kosh
. . . "Northern Exposure" (1990) {Baby Blues (#5.11)}
[a dream sequence, maybe?]

Rosemary Leach
. . . "Disraeli" (1978)

Lu Leonard
. . . "Tall Tales and Legends" (1985) {Annie Oakley}

Rhoda Lewis
. . . "Network First: Victoria and Albert" (1997)

Bronwen Mantel
. . . Barnum (1986)

Doreen Mantle
. . . "Shadow Play" (2004)

Miriam Margolyes
. . . Blackadder's Christmas Carol (1988)

Anna Massey
. . . "Around the World in 80 Days" (1989/I)

Mollie Maureen
. . . "The Edwardians" (1972) {Daisy (#1.7)}

Marina McConnell
. . . "Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House" (1982)

Frances McDevitt
. . . "Queen Victoria's Empire" (2001)

Judi Meredith
. . . "Telephone Time" (1956) {The Consort (#2.19)}

Perlita Neilson
. . . "Fall of Eagles" (1974) {The English Princess (#1.2)}

Christine Ozanne
. . . "The Flaxton Boys" (1969) {1854: The Dog (#1.2)}

Tessa Pointing
. . . The First Black Britons (2005)

Jan Ravens
. . . "2DTV" (2001)
(animated)

Joyce Redman (Older)
. . . Victoria & Albert (2001)

Sheila Reed
. . . "Lillie" (1978)

Kate Reid
. . . "Hallmark Hall of Fame" (1951) {Invincible Mr. Disraeli - 1963}

Erica Rogers
. . . "Shaka Zulu" (1986)

Patricia Routledge
. . . "Victoria Regina" (1964)













Prunella Scales
. . . "A History of Britain" (2000) {Victoria and Her Sisters (#3.2)}

Prunella Scales
. . . Looking for Victoria (2003)

Prunella Scales
. . . Station Jim (2001)

Gladys Spencer

. . . "BBC Play of the Month" (1965) {Gordon of Khartoum (#1.4)}

Jessica Spencer
. . . "Cribb" (1980) {The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (#2.3)}

Shirley Steedman
. . . "East Lynne" (1976)













Lurene Tuttle
. . . "Voyagers!" (1982) {Buffalo Bill & Annie Oakley Play the Palace (#1.12)}

Zena Walker
. . . "Number 10" (1983) {Dizzy (#1.6)}

Wendy Worthington
. . . "The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer" (1998) {Saving Mr. Lincoln (#1.3)}

In that mix we should also give (dis)honorable mention to Terry Jones and Michael Palin, who both portrayed Queen Victoria in sketches from 'Monty Python's Flying Circus'. (Glenda Jackson was also Her Majesty in Skitlandia.)

Not all of them can be considered the "actual" Victoria of Earth Prime-Time, but definitely we have to include Victoria Hamilton as the younger version. Wendy Worthington would be the Victoria in that TV dimension where all the historical figures were idiots - along with her episode, that world contains 'When Things Were Rotten' and 'That's My Bush!'

To be the official portrait of Queen Victoria in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame, originally we were going to go with Annette Crosbie who had the most appearances thanks to her role in the mini-series about her son, "Edward The Seventh". However, Prunella Scales has three different productions to her credit as the Queen, and she does look amazingly like Victoria. And when she was made a Commander of the British Empire, Queen Elizabeth acknowledged her presence as the Old Vic by commenting that maybe Ms. Scales should be awarding the honor to herself!

So here's to the Queen for a Week, Victoria Regina!

BCnU!

STEWIE BONES

Tonight on FOX, FBI Agent Seeley Booth of 'Bones' meets Stewie Griffin of 'Family Guy'!



It looks like Booth is having an hallucination, not a full-bore crossover from the Tooniverse. But such a thing is pozz'ble, as shown by Drew Carey (with Daffy Duck) and Jerry Seinfeld (with Superman).

It's a shame too, since we know Stewie can cross over into the live action Toobworld. He and Brian did so during the Emmy Awards a few years back.

BCnU!
Toby O'B

MAYORALTEEVEE

Sadly, we have to banish 'Castle' from the main Toobworld of Earth Prime-Time. Last week's episode confirmed that Castle's friend the Mayor - aka Bobby - is the Mayor of New York City.

The real world mayor, Mike Bloomberg, must hold that position in Toobworld as well. He's made appearances as such on '30 Rock' and 'Law & Order' and "A Muppets Christmas: Letter To Santa". (Which makes me wonder - has he been co-opted by the Scheinhart Wig Company?)

So off 'Castle' goes, entertaining as it is. But at least I'm going to have it set up shop in the TV dimension of 'The West Wing', sharing space with 'Mr. Sterling', 'Smallville', the "re-imagined" 'Battlestar Galactica'.... Not too shabby for company there!

But I'm sure that the sci-fi (Please - NOT SiFy!) conventions must apply when it comes to alternate dimensions - there would still be an author named Richard Castle and a Detective Kate Beckett in the main Toobworld. Only they banter with Mayor Blloomberg when at charity functions.

I don't know what the future holds for either show, but now I'm hoping there WON'T ever be a crossover between 'Castle' and 'The Unusuals'. I don't want to lose the 2nd Squad to a different dimension as well.....

BCnU!

JENNA WARY

Jenna Elfman, of 'Dharma & Greg' fame, can be considered a character in the TV Universe even though she has yet to appear as herself in any TV drama or sitcom. That's because Alfa, the rogue Active from 'Dollhouse', mentioned that he had gone to grade school with the actress while he was disguised as the designer of the Dollhouse. So there's one notch in her belt for the League of Themselves.....

And just putting this out there - I think she should be playing Andrea Anders' sister.....

BCnU!

LIFE IMITATES TOOBWORLD

TENAHA, Texas (CNN) -- Roderick Daniels was traveling through East Texas in October 2007 when, he says, he was the victim of a highway robbery.Police in the small East Texas town of Tenaha are accused of unjustly taking valuables from motorists.

The Tennessee man says he was ordered to pull his car over and surrender his jewelry and $8,500 in cash that he had with him to buy a new car.But Daniels couldn't go to the police to report the incident.The men who stopped him were the police.Daniels was stopped on U.S. Highway 59 outside Tenaha, near the Louisiana state line. Police said he was driving 37 mph in a 35 mph zone. They hauled him off to jail and threatened him with money-laundering charges -- but offered to release him if he signed papers forfeiting his property.

"I actually thought this was a joke," Daniels told CNN.But he signed."To be honest, I was five, six hundred miles from home," he said. "I was petrified."

For more on the story, click here.

Fans of 'The Rockford Files' surely recognized the scenario. Jimbo found himself in the same situation when he visited Pastoria, California, in the episode "Pastoria Prime Pick". (It's also one of my favorite episodes, up there with "South By Southwest" and "The Battle-Axe And The Exploding Cigars".)

Care to see the episode?



BCnU!