AN EARTH PRIME-TIME PRIMER

Two new series have appeared in the TV Universe recently... but not in the main TV dimension. Both of them are remakes of shows that have already claimed their place in Earth Prime Time.

Usually, remakes are relegated to Earth Prime Time-Delay, but only one of these series will end up in that alternate dimension. We'll have to come up with a new classification for the other show's homeworld.

The shows? 'Little House On The Prairie' and 'Kojak'.

First, let's review the dimensional crap.....

Earth Prime - That's our Earth. The World We Live In. Reality. Some of you might be familiar with the concept. Earth Prime Time - The main TV Land. Here we call it Toobworld to give it our own brand. People from "Real Life" may appear in Toobworld, but you'll never see those fictional characters inhabiting our world. And if you do, seek help.

There are many off-shoots of Earth Prime Time; in fact, there are thousands. The premise is best splained by Quinn Mallory's prologue in every episode of 'Sliders':

"What if you could find brand new worlds right here on Earth where anything's possible? Same planet - different dimension."

Among the many dimensions we have to deal with in the Toobworld Dynamic (and the shows that are situated there) are:

The "Evil Mirror" Universe - featured in 'Star Trek', 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys', and 'Blake's Seven' The

Tooniverse - For the most part, human cartoon characters are considered just the artistic representation of real human beings. Cartoon series like 'Futurama', 'The Critic', and 'Where's Huddles?' would be part of the main TV Universe.

But if the characters interact with talking humanoid animals, then they get tossed over to the Tooniverse. That's where you would find all the 'Scooby Doo' variations, 'Underdog', 'Wally Gator', 'Family Guy' and yes, even 'The Simpsons'. ('The Flintstones' would be an exception due to the fact that there were talking 'Dinosaurs!' on Earth Prime Time.)

Because of the difference as to who occupies the White House, shows like 'The West Wing', '24', and eventually 'Jack & Bobby' get their own TV dimensions. And at least on Earth Jed-Prime (for 'The West Wing'), there are other series which occupy the same dimension, among them 'Mr. Sterling' and 'Smallville'.

But for all of the many TV shows that are remakes of earlier series, they are placed in a dimension we have dubbed Earth Prime Time-Delay.. They are looked upon as being the same shows, but occurring later in the timeline than the originals over in the main TV Universe.

For example - 'Dark Shadows', 'The New Addams Family', '87th Precinct'.

Apparently, in quantum physics, there is no such thing as absolute time. There is only relative time which is relative to the location and the speed of the observer.

So, although the stories of the '87th Precinct' might have taken place in the early 1960s, new viewers in the 1990s saw the same characters - but as they now acted and looked for that time period. As the audience changed and the writing matured, so did the texture of the show, making it impossible to keep on the same world where once we saw it.

'Star Trek' has a term for this type of splainin, you know. Techno-babble.

Of course that rule could be absolved for shows set in the far past, like those about Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, and Robin Hood. And that's the situation in which we find ourselves with the first show under consideration, 'Little House
On The Prairie'.

[To Be Continued....]

BCnU!
Tele-Toby