30 BROC

Roy Mazzacane wasn't the only friend of mine who was at that ceremony for Jack and Avery on '30 Rock'. But within the "reality" of the Toobworld Dynamic, he wasn't there as himself. Broc Hempel on the other hand appeared as his televersion.

Performing with his bandmates Sam Trapchack (on bass) and Christian Coleman (on drums), Broc played the keyboards at the rooftop reception. They can be seen in several shots (as pictured here) and then can be seen standing in the back of the seating area during the renewal of the vows. (And that's Roy Mazzacane as Rep. Anthony Hanley in the second row, on the aisle to the right.)

Broc and "Broadway Brassy" play the Rum House at the Edison Hotel at least once a month. And if you want to see Hempel. Trapchack.Coleman perform, they play every Sunday night at Dominie's in Astoria. 

Check them out!

BCnU!

MONDO MAZZACANE

I think there must be a LOT more than eight million stories nowadays, especially in Toobworld where there are not only televersions for all of us, but also for so many fictional characters.

All of those atmosphere people we see in the background of our TV shows have lives just as rich as the main characters in the foreground. Think of that old lady who watched Mary Richards toss her hat in the air. (Of course, that was in Minneapolis.) Or that blind man at the curb when a car almost hits Oscar Madison in the crosswalk. (Okay, we're back in the Big Apple.) 

They may have had spouses and children who then had lives that reached out and had an impact on the lives of other characters, even the main characters in other shows.

Let's swoop down with the Inner Toob camera and find somebody completely at random. (Ahem - koff koff!)

Oh, look! There's some kind of roof party going on near St. Patrick's Cathedral. See that man walking by himself - he looks to be a good candidate for this experiment. (He has to be or I've got bupkis!)

We'll just zoom in closer.....

It turns out he was at the rooftop ceremony where Jack Donaghy and Avery Jessup were supposed to renew their wedding vows. Most of those gathered were friends of the bride and/or groom. Considering he was a high level executive with NBC and she was a high profile newswoman, those friends who attended were probably power players themselves from all strata of society.

So Our Man In The Light Colored Suit? I'm going to make the claim that he's the state representative Anthony Hanley from the Providence, Rhode Island, area. It could be that Rep. Hanley knew Jack at Harvard Business School; they may have been brother members of the secretive Twig & Plums Society.

Representative Anthony Hanley

Rep. Hanley must have had a brother also serving in the state assembly. That Rep. Hanley couldn't have been the same guy - they didn't look alike. And I don't think the recastaway theories come into play here.

Why would I make such an assumption about a nameless background character? First off, it helps to condense the Tele-Folks Directory; and in doing so, it provides a link between two shows. But most of all, it's because that wedding guest was played by Roy Mazzacane, who also played Representative Anthony Hanley in an episode of 'Brotherhood'. (The other Rep. Hanley was played by Thomas Tynell in an earlier episode.)

And why did I choose Roy Mazzacane's wedding guest out of all those people seated there?

Because I know him, from back in our UConn days, working together on a production of 'The Hostage'.

You didn't really think I'd pick a background character at random, did you?

As Steve McGarrett once said, "Aloha, Suckers!"

AS SEEN ON TV: QUASIMODO, PART TWO

QUASIMODO

AS SEEN IN:

'The Ricky Gervais Show'

CREATED BY:

Victor Hugo

"PORTRAYED" BY:

Karl Pilkington

TV DIMENSION:

The Tooniverse

TV STATUS:

Fantasy figure

(Ricky imagined Karl as a modern day Quasimodo)

From Wikipedia:

Quasimodo was born with physical deformities, which Hugo describes as a huge wart that covers his right eye and a severely hunched back. He is found abandoned in Notre Dame (on the foundlings' bed, where orphans and unwanted children are left to public charity) on Quasimodo Sunday, the first Sunday after Easter, by Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame, who adopts the baby, names him after the day the baby was found, and brings him up to be the bell-ringer of the Cathedral. Due to the loud ringing of the bells, Quasimodo also becomes deaf. Although he is hated for his deformity, it is revealed that he is fairly kind at heart.

Looked upon by the general populace of Paris as a monster, he relies on his master Claude Frollo and frequently accompanies him when the Archdeacon walks out. He first encounters the beautiful Gypsy girl Esmeralda when he and Frollo attempt to kidnap her one night. Captain Phoebus de Chateaupers arrives to stop the kidnapping and captures Quasimodo. He later falls in love when she gives him water as he is being punished at the pillory.

Esmeralda is later entangled in an attempted murder and sentenced to hang for both the attempted murder and witchcraft. As she is being forced to pray at the steps of Notre Dame just before being marched off to the gallows, Quasimodo slides down with a rope, and rescues her by taking her up to the top of the cathedral, where he poignantly shouts "Sanctuary!" to the onlookers below.

BCnU!

MARY CADORETTE: GAME FOR ANYTHING

In order to promote her sitcom 'Three's A Crowd', Mary Cadorette made several appearances on ABC-based game shows and even a "reality" competition special. (I got the feeling that she did all the heavy lifting in the promotion of the sitcom; that Ritter was above that sort of thing by that point in his career. I may be wrong; I usually am.....)

So here are some clips from those appearances in which Mary Cadorette padded out her resume as a member of the League of Themselves.....

We'll jump ahead to part four....

BCnU!

TROLLING FOR MORE SHERRY

And here's one last post about Mary's Sherry, this time presenting "Fool's Gold", the full episode of 'Monsters!' in which she appeared:

BCnU!

A LITTLE MORE SHERRY

Getting back to the post about Mary's character of Sherry on 'Murphy Brown', here's part one of a YouTube tribute to the secretaries of 'Murphy Brown'. Mary, as previously mentioned, was the first in the long run, so you only need to watch the first few minutes if you just want to see her.

(I'll be showing all five parts of this tribute on Secretaries' Day, whenever that is.....)

BCnU!

"THREE'S A CROWD"

Mary Cadorette's first big role in Toobworld was also her best-known - that of Vicky Bradford, Jack Tripper's live-in girl-friend in 'Three's A Crowd', the sequel to John Ritter's mega-hit 'Three's Company'.

If Jack and Vicky ever married in their life after prime-time once the show was cancelled after its first year, I think it's likely that Vicky would be a widow by now. Even though 'Three's Company' was adapted from a previous Britcom, Ritter became so identified with his role as Jack Tripper that it's inconceivable that any other actor might attempt to play it in a remake. (Not that it would ever stop any network making the attempt in the future.)

Here's the first half of a 'Three's A Crowd' episode (of which I couldn't find the second part, so I'm not sure it's even out there on YouTube.)

BCnU!

A DOUBLE SHOT OF SHERRY

When 'Murphy Brown' premiered in 1988, I was excited to see my friend Mary Cadorette on the debut episode of 'Murphy Brown' appearing as Sherry French, Murphy's secretary. I figured that by being the secretary, Mary would prove to be integral to much of the action in the sitcom.

Well, that didn't last long.

Less than five minutes later, Mary's character was gone for good, establishing the show's long-running gag about Murphy's endless line of secretaries. But at least she has the distinction in the TV history books as being the first.

But what happened to Sherry French after she got fired from 'F.Y.I.'? Based on her next TV role, we can make a supposition.....

As her nuptials were fast approaching, Sherry needed another job quickly to uphold her share in the finances of the coming marriage. So she became a secretary for a Washington D.C.-based construction company. There she must have found her niche because she quickly rose through the ranks to become a supervisor overseeing the cost outlast on various projects conducted by the firm. (Mostly it entailed a ton of paperwork, with little need for her to go on site at those jobs.)

One of those jobs was down in the basement of an old brownstone, where the crew discovered a hole in the wall that led to an underground cavern containing a troll and its treasure. Two of the crew were killed by the troll and a third was grievously wounded. Sherry, however (now known by her married name as Ms. Atkinson), not only escaped harm, but caused the death of the troll.

With her newfound half of the treasure (shared with the last surviving member of the crew), Sherry and her husband disappeared - changing their names to avoid being questioned about the strange deaths of her co-workers. (Just the body of the troll would have brought her to the attention of the FBI's X-Files team.)

So any role, preferably a one-shot, played by Mary Cadorette after that episode of 'Monsters!' could be Sherry French Atkinson, but under an alias. And any background info on that character supplied by her would just be a cover story/lie.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DOCTOR HUDSON

DR. WAYNE HUDSON

AS SEEN IN:

'Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal'

CREATED BY:

Lloyd C. Douglas

PORTRAYED BY:

John Howard

TV LOCATION:

Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:

'Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal' is an American medical drama which aired in syndication from 1955 to 1957. It was based on the book of the same name by Lloyd C. Douglas, that was a prequel to his "Magnificent Obsession". A total of 78 episodes were produced.

The plot of "Magnificent Obsession":
Robert Merrick is resuscitated by a rescue crew after a boating accident. The crew is unable to save the life of Dr. Hudson, a doctor renowned for his ability to help people, who was having a heart attack at the same time on the other side of the lake. Merrick then decides to devote his life to making up for the doctor's, and becomes a physician himself.

Douglas later wrote a book in response to the flood of letters he received from readers who wanted to know where they could find the book to which he referred in the novel, "Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal". The Robert Merrick character decoded the journal, from which he learned the secret of his extraordinary success as a doctor. (According to the book, the secret was the literal practice of doing good deeds secretly, and thereby reaping spiritual power to use in becoming an excellent doctor.)

BCnU!

IT'S MARY CADORETTE DAY!

Today we're celebrating Mary Cadorette's career in Toobworld for no other reason than she's a friend of mine. (I probably should have done this on her birthday, but I've missed that by a couple of months.)

We'll be combining two of her characters into one in order to connect two TV series together. (Well, actually one of those is from an anthology series, so it's only going to be a link to just that on episode in which she appeared.) Plus we'll take a look at her most famous character and to her ventures as a member of the League of Themselves.

As far as I can tell, she never played a literary character adapted for TV so that gallery will be on a different topic.

Not only do I hope you enjoy it, I also hope she'll enjoy it as well!

BCnU!