TVXOHOF REDUX - LUCAS & MARK McCAIN

With a month of posts dedicated to 'The Rifleman', the August induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame would have been the perfect time for Lucas and Mark McCain... if it weren't for the fact that they both are members of the Hall already.

Back in 2002, during the online hiatus between the Tubeworld Dynamic website and the Inner Toob blog, Lucas and Mark McCain were inducted together that summer. They were the Western pair in that year-long salute to TV duos. (Even though I didn't have an online presence from April 2002 until August 2004, I at least kept inducting new members into the TVXOHOF.)

The McCains were inducted along with Andy and Opie Taylor, with a hypothetical "Born To Re-Run" suggestion that the Mayberry sheriff and his son were the reincarnations of Lucas and Mark.

Lucas and Mark McCain easily filled the requirements to become members of the Hall, as they each had three separate appearances on TV. (They were the same three programs for both, but they didn't appear together in the third.)

"The Sharpshooter" episode is now shown as the first episode of the series, but it was originally broadcast in 1958 during the second season of 'Zane Grey Theatre', serving as a pilot for 'The Rifleman'. Then the actual show was launched and ran for five seasons.

Their third TV appearance is in one of the great hubs for Toobworld - the TV movie "Gambler IV - Luck Of The Draw". In it, gambler Brady Hawkes made a cross-country trek to San Francisco in 1906 for a big poker game. Along the way he ran into many of the greatest TV Western characters of all time, from shows like 'Cheyenne', 'The Virginian', 'Maverick', 'Wyatt Earp', 'Bat Masterson', 'Kung Fu', and 'The Westerner'.

(About the only ones missing were Matt Dillon, James West, the 'Sugarfoot', 'Hondo', 'Bronco', anybody from the 'High Chaparral' and Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes, 'Alias Smith and Jones'. Of course, for Toobworld purposes, it's a good thing those last two didn't appear, due to recastaway problems.)

Hawkes was rescued by Lucas McCain when he was ambushed near the McCain ranch in New Mexico. Since McCain was well-known as "The Rifleman" more than twenty years earlier (as often depicted in the series), it's not surprising that Brady Hawkes knew who he was.

Later in Colorado, Mark McCain was seen working on the set of a silent movie. He was drafted into performing as a stunt man for a scene and inadvertantly created the first fictional portrayal of the Lone Ranger. (Here's hoping that Mark McCain would have a bright future as a silent movie cowboy star in Toobworld.)

So there's the three requirements:

'Zane Grey Theatre'
'The Rifleman'
"The Gambler IV: Luck Of The Draw"

Chuck Connors died in 1992, not long after the "Gambler" TV movie, but John Ernest Crawford is still going strong as an actor and musician in the Los Angeles area. (I follow him as a Facebook friend.) So there's always a chance that Mark McCain might one day re-appear in Toobworld. It may seem like a long shot, given the status of TV Westerns in today's television landscape, but who knows?

After all, 'Cheyenne' Bodie showed up in an episode of 'Kung Fu: The Legend Continues'!

BCnU!

KIBBLES AND TOOBITS - A LOOK AT "WILFRED"

FX has a new sitcom based on an Australian show by the same name - 'Wilfred'. The premise is certainly... different - a guy named Ryan befriends a dog belonging to his sexy neighbor; but whereas everybody else sees Wilfred as the dog he should be, Ryan sees him as a rough, bong-toking Australian in a dog suit.

I have a feeling that, like 'Lost' and other shows with a strange, mysterious premise, I'll have to wait until the show finally ends its run before I can make sense of what it all means and how it can fit into the mosaic of Toobworld.

Normally, I'd just say that the American 'Wilfred' was just a remake and so had to be put down - er, dumped into the Land of Remakes. (Somebody! Help me with a name for that TV dimension!) But since the co-creator of the original series is playing 'Wilfred', just as he did in the Australian original, we could say that they both belong in Earth Prime-Time. Wilfred's the same man-dog (or whatever he is) but know living in America. Just tormenting somebody new.

Like I said, we probably won't know until the series' end, if then. But we could make a few guesses as to who - or what - Wilfred is.

1] WILFRED IS A DELUSION FOR BOTH ADAM AND RYAN
That he should look the same to both men on separate continents? Maybe they both drew inspiration from a picture book for kids or a TV-within-TV show aimed at kids with an international audience.

Do you think it strange that grown men would talk to a dog and follow its advice? Tell that to David Berkowitz....

2] WILFRED IS A DEMON
To the rest of the world, he looks to be a dog, but to the souls he torments he's a humanoid canine. Maybe he's only tormenting Ryan because he already drove Adam to suicide Down Under. When we first meet Ryan, he's making the attempt to kill himself, and that may have drawn the demon to him.

And speaking of souls.....


3] WILFRED HAS BEEN REINCARNATED AS A DOG
It's the natural transition in Toobworld - when a human dies, and they have unfinished business, they come back as a dog. (But don't tell the Minbari that!) If so, he probably died again while hanging out with Adam, only he didn't advance to the next level but instead he came back as a dog again. (We even have precedence for that, with Buck Bundy dying and being sent back from Animal Heaven as Lucky Bundy on 'Married... With Children'.)

Usually when we as the Trueniverse audience see a reincarnated dog, they look like a dog but we can hear their voice and/or thoughts - Cleo of 'The People's Choice' and 'Poochinsky', for instance. But in this case we see the human embodiment of Wilfred's soul blended with the trappings of fur.

Fur trappings. Heh heh. Heh heh.....

And the reason Ryan can see this is because he had been so near to death himself when he tried to kill himself.

4] WILFRED IS A QUANTUM LEAPER FROM THE FUTURE
There was an episode of 'Quantum Leap' where Dr. Sam Beckett leapt into the life of a chimpanzee. The same situation may have happened here, where a leaper from Sam's future, when they can specifically target a "leapee". (Why he would choose a dog on both occasions is unknown, but must be instrumental to his research project.)

Now, supposedly only children, animals, and people with "special needs" can see a leaper. So maybe there's been some damage to Ryan's brain after his suicide attempt......

5] WILFRED IS FROM THE PLANET PARENTHIA
Parenthia is a planet in the Sirius system, which is probably why Sirius is known as the Dog Star. Two of their astronauts, Alpha and Orvis, were brought to Earth by Aunt Clara's magic in an episode of 'Bewitched'. The humanoid canines were mentioned in an episode of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' and they were present at the Restaurant At The End Of The Universe in 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'.

Wilfred could be observing human life on Earth in preparation for an invasion by his homeworld. His presence is masked by either a glamour device or by a magical spell cast by another practitioner of the dark arts. First he checked out life in Australia and is now living large near Venice Beach in California.

His dedication to the operation may be compromised because he's revealed his true identity to Adam and Ryan.

I've just read that last one back. It made a lot more sense when I was popping Puppy Uppers with my neighbor's dog.....

BCnU!

BONNEVILLE BOUNTY

I don't know when the Crawley family line began, nor when they became titled nobility with the Earldom of Grantham, nor when 'Downton Abbey' was built. But it could be that the family fortune was buttressed by ill-gotten pirate booty at some point.

The title of Earl of Grantham and the inheritance of all the lands associated with the title was handed down to the next male heir in the Crawley family. That meant even going outside the established bloodline should there be only girls in the current Earl's family as we have seen during the reign of George V. Suitable marriages would have to be arranged for the daughters of the Earls and so the family tree would branch out in all directions.

One of those daughters, back in the middle of the 17th Century, may have been married off to an Englishman of noble birth named Avery. (The name itself means "nobility".) If they had children, only the oldest son would inherit the Avery estate; the others would have to find other employ.

They may have had a younger son named Henry, probably born around 1651. In order to make a name for himself and provide for his future, he joined the Royal Navy. Eventually he married, or at the very least, he fathered a son named Toby (Hey now!) by a woman who later died when the lad was about twelve years of age.

Something went wrong with his career choice and Henry Avery became a privateer, commander of the good ship "Fancy". And in April of 1699, his path crossed that of the Doctor and his Companions when their ship was becalmed and being attacked by an alien siren.

Whether any of his pirated hoard (from travels before this last ill-fated one) found its way back to England and the Crawley family is uncertain, but doubtful. What did the Averys owe to them? In fact, why should Henry Avery share any of the treasures with his older brother and any other members of the family?

But it seems to me, by the strength of tele-genetics, that Captain Henry Avery was related to the Crawley family, with an echo of his DNA resurfacing in Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham during the Edwardian Age and onwards.

(There's also something about Hugh Bonneville in a beard that kept reminding me of Dabney Coleman, so who knows?  Perhaps former Fernwood, Ohio, mayor Merle Jeeter can trace his lineage back to the sea captain.....)

SHOWS CITED:
'Downton Abbey'
'Doctor Who' - "The Curse Of The Black Spot"
'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' 
 
BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: CHARLES I

CHARLES I

AS SEEN IN:
'Charles II: The Power And The Passion'

AS PLAYED BY:
Martin Turner

From Wikipedia:
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was the second son of James VI of Scots and I of England. He was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles believed was divinely ordained. Many of his English subjects opposed his actions, in particular his interference in the English and Scottish Churches and the levying of taxes without parliamentary consent which grew to be seen as those of a tyrannical absolute monarch.

Religious conflicts permeated Charles's reign. His failure to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War, coupled with such actions as marrying a Catholic princess, generated deep mistrust concerning the king's dogma. Charles further allied himself with controversial religious figures, such as the ecclesiastic Richard Montagu, and William Laud, whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Many of Charles' subjects felt this brought the Church of England too close to the Catholic Church. Charles' later attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to the Bishops' Wars, strengthened the position of the English and Scottish Parliaments and helped precipitate the king's downfall.

Charles' last years were marked by the English Civil War, in which he fought the forces of the English and Scottish Parliaments, which challenged the king's attempts to overrule and negate Parliamentary authority, whilst simultaneously using his position as head of the English Church to pursue religious policies which generated the antipathy of reformed groups such as the Puritans.

Charles was defeated in the First Civil War (1642–45), after which Parliament expected him to accept its demands for a constitutional monarchy. He instead remained defiant by attempting to forge an alliance with Scotland and escaping to the Isle of Wight. This provoked the Second Civil War (1648–49) and a second defeat for Charles, who was subsequently captured, tried, convicted, and executed for high treason.

Off with his head!

The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England, also referred to as the Cromwellian Interregnum, was declared.

Charles' son, Charles II, though he became king at the death of his father, did not take up the reins of government until the restoration of the monarchy 1660. In that same year, Charles I was canonised as Saint Charles Stuart and King Charles the Martyr by the Church of England and is venerated throughout the Anglican Communion.

For more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England

A Toobworld side-note: Martin Turner would later play Prince Charles, the current Prince of Wales. As his portrayal of Charles is in some other TV dimension, I'm not sure if a case could be made for reincarnation......

BCnU!

SUPER BOWL BLIPVERTS: REIN-CAR-NATION

The idea that tele-folks can be reincarnated as cars has been around at least since the "glory" days of 'My Mother The Car'. (Maybe even farther back if there were talking cars in TV commercials before now.)

As seen in a recent spate of Volkswagen blipverts, these living cars with human souls have become more accepted in Toobworld society. Whereas Dave Crabtree had to hide the existence of his mother reborn as a 1928 Porter, Max the Jetta and a classic VW bus (whom I call "the Dub Dude") live openly in the suburbs......

The Dub Dude abides.

Max has even gone on to host his own talk show on TV, where his automotive appearance and even his German accent have not been impediments to his aspirations:

So it's not really a surprise to see a "drove" of reincarnated cars get together and get all up in each other's grills.....

(And that's another blipvert that will be seen during the Super Bowl.)

BCnU!

ROCKS IN ROLES

In Toobworld, everything is alive. I don't know if that's some Native American spiritual belief, or just a manifestation of the Force, but the flowers, the trees, and even the rocks not only live, but they can speak.

Here's an example as far as the rocks go......

This can't be an example of reincarnation in Toobworld, because even though they sound like an old Jewish couple, these two boulders were around long before Mankind was seeded on Earth Prime-Time. They could be somehow related to the Ogri of 'Doctor Who' or the Horta of 'Star Trek'.....

BCnU!

GEOFFREY PALMER ON "DOCTOR WHO"

I had so much fun doing the "Who's On First" celebration on New Year's Day, that I think I'll include a 'Doctor Who' video every weekend.

To kick things off, here's a look at the great Geoffrey Palmer in the three roles he played on the series (none of whom had a happy ending).

Could they have been related in any way? Perhaps they all shared the same soul. As we thought we learned from the Minbari and the humans, reincarnation spans the galaxy. (Of course, for the Minbari it was a combination of mistaken identity and time travel when it came to Sinclair and Valen sharing the same soul.)

But since 'Doctor Who' spans the vast timeline of the TV Universe, I don't think there's any fear that any of these three characters existed at the same time. And as always, I could be wrong about that.....

BCnU!

A TWICE-TOLD "DRAGNET" CHRISTMAS STORY

Starting this weekend, the Inner Toob Video Weekend will be filled with Christmas oriented goodies. Not all of them will bring you Christmas cheer (Beware of December 18th!), but they should provide the holiday diversions you need as the big day approaches.

First up, here's a charming blend of two episodes from 'Dragnet' which basically tell the same story, but in different eras of the show:

The repetition of a plotline isn't uncommon in Toobworld, but not so often within the same series as the original. It became a standard in 'Bewitched' once Samantha altered the facial appearance of her husband Darrin; and it was the first sign that homicide captain Amos Burke was suffering from Alzheimer's, when he couldn't remember during the 1990's that he once solved a murder with the exact same M.O. and and a similar suspect with the same motive back in the 1960's.

I don't think mental deterioration would be the cause here. I think Joe Friday, with the heavy caseload he had over the years, must have just forgotten the circumstances. But then again, he was once more dealing with Father Xavier Rojas, the parish priest from that last "case" fourteen years earlier.

Maybe it was now the elder Father Rojas who was beginning to show signs of dementia, and Friday was hoping not to embarrass him by reminding him of what happened in the previous case.

Ho ho ho......

INTO THE WOODS

This theory of relateeveety is from my brother Bill.....

Of the bastard children that may have been sired by the Roman Octavian, one line of descent found its way to the British Isle. There Octavian's telegenetics eventually re-manifested themselves in a young doctor named Harrison in the town of Cranford. A century later, one of Dr. Harrison's descendants also bore a remarkable resemblance to the Roman emperor - a fighter pilot stationed near Hastings named Greville Woods. Greville Woods may have been the grandfather of a young man named Rowan who was the son of the Prime Minister. But that would have been in the Toobworld timeline before the temporal reboot by either the primeval anomaly explored by Nick and Helen Cutter or the intervention of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect into the lives of the cavemen.
Rowan may still have survived into the new timeline, but his father was no longer the Prime Minister of Great Britain.

SHOWS CITED:
'Rome'
'Cranford'
'Foyle's War' - "Enemy Fire"
'Spooks' ('MI-5') - episodes 5.1 & 5.2
'Primeval'
'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy'

[All of these characters were played by Simon Woods.]

BCnU!

MAUDIE, BORN TO RERUN

In the 'Bewitched' episode "Samantha's Olde Salem Days", Maudie Prickett and James Westerfield played the tavern keepers Mr. and Mrs. Farley in 17th Century Salem. (Although all of the credits list their name as "Farley", the Magistrate pronounced it as "Fairley".)

Earlier today I suggested that Mr. Farley and his wife Goodie Farley were the ancestors of a character Maudie Prickett played in other episodes of 'Bewitched'. But they could also have connections to two other characters seen in an episode of 'The Andy Griffith Show' - Aunt Bea's sister Nora and her husband Ollie.

But I'm thinking the connection is less genealogical than it is spiritual.

I'm saying that Ollie and Nora were the reincarnations of Mr. and Mrs. Farley!

We've seen this happen before in Toobworld, where TV characters are not only reborn, but are eventually reunited with people they knew in a past life. My favorite theory for this concerns Ross and Demelza 'Poldark', whom I believe were "born to rerun" as 'Dharma & Greg'.

Another example would combine 'Doctor Who' with 'Rosemary & Thyme' via characters played by Felicity Kendall and Christopher Benjamin.

To look at both couples, it's easy to see why reincarnation could be a pozz'bility......

As for an actual theory of relateeveety, I think it's likely Aunt Bea was more than happy to see her sister Nora leave town after their over-extended visit. Not so much because she was just as tired of their company as Andy was, but because she finally realized that Nora bore an uncomfortable resemblance to Lydia, Myrtle and Edna (all seen in episodes of 'The Andy Griffith Show' and 'Mayberry RFD'.)

Apparently Bea and Nora's mother must have cheated on her husband with the father of those triplets.... BCnU!

STEELE BIRTH

Back in the 1870's Bret Maverick was set up to be the fall guy in a bank robbery by Molly Gleason and her boyfriend Ralph Jordan (who worked at the bank and was the bank owner's nephew). In protecting the bank (if only to save his own skin), Maverick killed Ralph in a shoot-out. Molly was taken into custody by the sheriff (who was once infatuated with her), and may have spent a good part of her life in prison. I have no clue as to when she eventually died.

In Toobworld, reincarnation is an established fact - it's right there in the lyrics to the 'My Mother The Car' theme song:

About 100 years later, the souls of Ralph Jordan and Molly Gleason were briefly re-united in Los Angeles. But Ralph's spirit may have been reborn at least once before its present incarnation as private eye Joe Mannix, giving it time for its karma to cleanse itself and move on in spiritual growth. Unfortunately, the soul of Molly Gleason, now reborn as an Australian two-timer named Sheila Sprague, did not achieve that cleansing growth. She was still as corrupt as she had been back in the 1870's.

There was no spark in which these two souls suddenly recognized each other - Ralph Jordan had moved on and Joe Mannix had no spiritual memory of that past life. When he saw Sheila Sprague, known to her new lover as "Angel", Joe Mannix only saw her as a double-crossing tramp who put the life of her former lover in danger.

Joe Mannix is still with us in Toobworld and a sure candidate for inclusion in the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame. ('Mannix', 'Here's Lucy', 'Diagnosis Murder') The soul of Joe Mannix will probably move on and have no further need to return to life in Toobworld after the private eye passes away. But Sheila Sprague, like the actress who played her (Karen Steele) has died. Perhaps her soul has been reborn already; perhaps she is on her way to cleansing her karma.

In all likelihood, however, it will take several centuries for her to finally rid herself of those past inclinations. But as we will one day see, somewhere around 2266 in the Toobworld timeline, Molly Gleason/Sheila Sprague, known in the future as Eve McHuron, was finally beginning to break free of her larcenous ways.

(Eve McHuron on the left, with the other two "Mudd's Women")

Baby, we were born to re-run!

BCnU!

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, DAWG?

This last video isn't really connected to any TV show*, unless you want to invoke the spirit of 'Those Amazing Animals' (but then you risk the pozz'bility of summoning the ghost of Burgess Meredith....)

But it could illustrate a Toobworld Central theory - that when humans are reincarnated, they usually come back as dogs.

When she was alive as a human, this dog probably was a celebrated dancer in her day; perhaps performing in Latin America nightclubs.

Keeping it within the "reality" of Toobworld, maybe she was a character in some tele-novela who died before the series ended.....

BCnU!

* I wouldn't be surprised if this video has shown up on Animal Planet.....

WINDER UP

This is a picture of Hawthorne, the Chief Winder in the 'Doctor Who' episode "The Beast Below". I'm not sure if Hawthorne's position was considered a combination of Prime Minister and Chief of the Secret Police.

I doubt this will ever be verified, but I wonder if the name of "Hawthorne" was an in-joke tip of the hat to Nigel Hawthorne. The late actor played the "power behind the throne" (as it were) in the series 'Yes, Minister' and 'Yes, Prime Minister'. And as Hawthorne was played by Terrence Hardiman, I'm tempted to suggest that either he was a direct descendant of Abbot Radulphus ('Cadfael'), or the Abbot's soul was "born to rerun" all those centuries later..... That's right, I said a "direct" descendant! Come on, even Brother Cadfael had a son! He couldn't have been the only one at St. Winifred's who was monk-ing around!

BCnU!

ROBERT CULP, DOGGIE-STYLE

It's not what you think.....

Clarke's Third Law
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

'Conan' was one of many TV series over the years that just slipped past my notice. As big a fan of fantasy literature as I am, I was never that interested in the sword and sorcery, thud and blunder, variant made most popular by this hulking He-Man creation of Robert E. Howard. (I think the closest I came to the style would be Fritz Lieber's stories about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and the comic book series about Cerebus the Earth-Pig.)

As a TV series, 'Conan' seems to hold more to the spirit of the Schwarzenegger films than to Howard's stories, which would be even more of a reason for me to skip the show.

But via Hulu, I just watched an episode which featured the distaff version of Conan, "Red Sonja". And that's only because the guest villain that episode was Robert Culp as King Vog of Harta.*
Vog kidnapped a young but powerful wizard named Lutai so that he could produce a magic spell that would make the aged king young again. The evil Vog wanted his reign over the Hartans to continue far longer than a normal man's life span, and that would only mean decades more of death and destruction for the Hartan people; perhaps even an eternity if the spell could be perpetuated.

Eventually Lutai agreed to do what Vog requested. Using strangely named plants, he concocted a paste which Vog only had to taste and he would be made young again. Suspecting it might be poison, the king tested it on a dog (on the suggestion of Lutai). The dog transformed into a smaller, younger, version of its former self. Vog then dipped two fingers into the mixture and tasted it. The results were almost instantaneous as Vog clutched at his chest and fell to his knees; with a golden flash of light, he was transformed into... a puppy.
"I never promised I would turn him into a young man," Lutai smirked. (That must have been some magic, to make his robes and crown disappear like that!)

In a way, that felt like an episode of 'The Twilight Zone', especially "What You Need". And even back then, in the age between the fall of Atlantis and the first recording of History (as mentioned in the opening narration), ages before the birth of Rod Serling even, the Twilight Zone would hold sway over Toobworld.

I believe that had Vog tasted the paste first, without letting the dog contaminate the mixture with its slobber, then he may have transformed into a much younger man, even a child. And then had the dog tasted the paste, then it too would have transformed into a young human. I think the paste needed DNA as its catalyst; and whichever DNA first made contact, that would be the form taken by any who tasted it.

So Vog became a dog - but in body only, I'm thinking. I believe his human intelligence would remain intact and perhaps it might even have been handed down to future generations of his new breed. Toobworld Central believes the same thing happened to Red the red squirrel, mistakenly transformed into a human by Martian technology in 'My Favorite Martian'. When he became a squirrel again, he retained that intelligence to be passed down through his lineage. (And even crossed over to the population of grey squirrels through cross-breeding.)

Lutai's transformation paste, although looked upon as a "magic potion", would be nothing more than an application of chemistry and biology. The technology that duplicated these efforts, used by the Martian Exigius 12 1/2 (aka "Uncle Martin O'Hara") was just an energy variant of the compound.

Even though I believe that Vog retained his human intelligence and passed it down to his doggy descendents, this doesn't mean I think all dogs who can think and/or talk are related to Vog. Too many specific species involved when he was transformed into a cute little mutt.

With those other dogs, we look to the unsold pilot of 'Poochinski' for inspiration: when a human dies, their first reincarnationi is into dogs - unless the cosmic powers that be dictate special circumstances, like into an antique car or a toaster or a shopping cart. (Connecticut readers may understand that one....)BCnU!

*I'm still not convinced that 'Conan' should be considered part of Earth Prime-Time. Oh, it belongs in the main TV dimension, but over on Earth's twin, Mondas, on the far side of Earth's orbit around the sun. Just because the narration says that it takes place in the time between the fall of Atlantis and the recording of History, that could just be a Terran frame of reference for us about when it was taking place on that other planet.

One other note, a rare critique: as much a fan of Robert Culp as I am, this was one of his lesser acting jobs. No matter how old he was in real life when he made this, I think he was incapable of acting old. This was almost an exaggerated shadow of how Dick Van Dyke might have played the role.......

JUST SAYIN', IS ALL.....

When writing up that ASOTV tribute to Casey Jones for his birthday on the 14th, there was one picture of Alan Hale in the role that made me think of another actor currently on TV - Brian Holt, who plays Bobby in 'Cougar Town'.

I think it's something to do with the smile/smirk: BCnU!

NEW 2 VIEW @ TOOB HQ

Some new additions to the Toobworld Central Library stacks this week:

'POLDARK' (SERIES 1)
One of my first immersions into the world of British costume dramas (right after 'I, Claudius'). It'll be interesting to go back now and see it again, now that I'm more familiar with so many of the UK's great character actors in TV work.

Some of my more "out-there" theories of televisiology are the "Born To Rerun" essays, in which I speculate that a certain character is the reincarnation of another. 'Poldark' provided a two-fer in this regard: it's the contention of Toobworld Central that aristocratic Ross Poldark and his gypsy wife Demelza were reincarnated as well-to-do Greg Montgomery and his free-spirited wife Dharma Liberty Finkelstein ('Dharma & Greg').

'SOAP' (THE COMPLETE SERIES)
Always loved this show and I knew the videotapes from its first run on Comedy Central were not going to last forever. Someday I hope they can do a special reunion episode, if only to let us know how those final cliff-hangers were resolved from nearly thirty years ago. (Even if several of the cast members are no longer with us.)

'NEWSRADIO' (THE COMPLETE SERIES)
One of those great shows that was hated by its own network. Dave Foley made for the perfect male version of Mary Richards, and the character of Bill O'Neil was Phil Hartman's last hurrah.

Just ordered today:
The complete collection of 'Futurama' - and that includes the four movies that have come out since the series ended.

I got this through the Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day and that was thanks to an alert from TVShowsOnDVD.com. As a minor thank you for the notice, I ordered my copy via their Amazon link so that they could get some coinage in return. It may not be much remuneration, but every little bit helps for the great service they provide.

If you order from Amazon, please consider doing so via TVShowsOnDVD.com. Thank you.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LORD BYRON

LORD BYRON

AS SEEN IN:
"Beau Brummell: This Charming Man"

AS PLAYED BY:
Matthew Rhys

From Wikipedia:
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Amongst Byron's best-known works are the brief poems "She Walks in Beauty", "When We Two Parted", and "So, we'll go no more a roving", in addition to the narrative poems "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" and "Don Juan". He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential, both in the English-speaking world and beyond.

Byron's notability rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured aristocratic excesses, huge debts, numerous love affairs, and self-imposed exile. He was famously described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad and dangerous to know." (It is odd, however, that generations of scholars have taken her at her word. As Francis Henry Gribble makes clear in his "The Love Affairs of Lord Byron", chapter 11, she was herself not far from insane, morally highly equivocal, and capable of creating more than enough danger to convince any prudent man to stay well clear of her.)

Byron served as a regional leader of Italy's revolutionary organization, the Carbonari, in its struggle against Austria. He later traveled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero.

He died from a fever contracted while in Missolonghi in Greece.

At least... that is what he wanted the world to think.

LORD BYRON

AS SEEN IN:
'The Highlander' - "Modern Prometheus"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jonathan Firth

Upon his death, he was reborn as an Immortal and continued for centuries in his wanton ways. By the 1990's, Byron had refashioned himself as a modern day rocker.

Here's the epguides.com description of his final days in that life.....

Lord Byron, the brilliant Romantic poet, is alive and well and living the decadent life of a rock star. He lives life way over the edge and has taken some promising young musicians over the edge with him. When following in Byron's footsteps tragically ends the life of Dawson's protege, MacLeod is faced with a decision -- is the beauty and genius that is Byron worth the cost?

Usually when it comes to the portrayal of an historical figure, we can afford to send off most of them to other TV dimensions; share the wealth as it were. This is especially true with the historical bio-films, like with Kennedy or Lincoln; instead we keep their appearances within TV series episodes and just assume the true history as a given to fill in the blanks.

But in this case, we can keep an extra portrayal of Lord Byron in Earth Prime-Time and not have to worry about the discrepancy in appearance due to there being a recastaway. So - as there were many TV portrayals of Lord Byron - Toobworld Central decided to keep his appearance in the TV movie about Beau Brummell. That way we get to keep James Purefoy's performance as Brummell. (It would have been nice to also claim a "Born To Rerun" theory, that Lord Byron was reincarnated as Kevin Walker on 'Brothers & Sisters' since they were both played by Matthew Rhys. Unfortunately, Kevin's timeline overlaps Byron's in that 'Highlander' episode.)

How can we claim this? Because Lord Byron as seen in the past flashbacks during "Modern Prometheus" are the memories of Duncan MacLeod, influenced by how he sees Lord Byron today. And those memories can be tampered with - not only does he see Byron as he looks in the present of that episode, but he doesn't always remember that Byron had a limp due to a club foot. (This can splain away the Zonk that Firth didn't always remember to play his scenes with the handicap.)

As for Byron's change in appearance in the 1990's from how he looked back in the early 19th Century, there was plenty of time after his rebirth as an Immortal for the poet to get a facelift. A lemon-squeezy splainin. You know, easy-peasey. (Like Byron, I'm a poet and I don't even realize it!)

LORD BYRON

AS SEEN IN:
'Star Trek: Voyager' - "The Darkling"

AS PLAYED BY:
Christopher Clarke

As it turns out, we can even keep a third portrayal of Lord Byron without fear of recurring the wrath of a Zonk. When the holographic program of The Doctor on board the starship Voyager decided to expand his personality subroutines, the simulation of Lord Byron was among those that he studied. (Thank you, Memory Alpha!) As this was a simulation programmed into the ship's computer, the image was interpreted by the program's designer.

Byronmania: it's not the real thing, but an incredible simulation!

How about that? It's a Three for Tuesday!

BCnU!

WHO NOSE?

After his regeneration, the Eleventh Incarnation of the Doctor was checking to make sure he still had the basic humanoid shape - legs, arms, lots and lots of fingers, ears, eyes, and nose. Although the nose didn't exactly meet with approval, Eleven accepted it with resignation. "I've had worse," he reasoned.

Which one of his past lives do you think he had in mind?

Take a look through the Eleven Doctors above and let me know - Who had the worst nose among the Time Lords?

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ALICE LIDDELL HARGREAVES

ALICE LIDDELL HARGREAVES

AS SEEN IN:
"Riverworld"

AS PLAYED BY:
Emily Lloyd
Alice Pleasance Liddell (4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Several later writers have written fictional accounts of Liddell. She is one of the main characters of the Riverworld series of books, by Philip José Farmer.
[from Wikipedia]

BCnU!

BORN TO RERUN: QUEER AS MERLIN

Here's an amusing pictorial comparison of 'Merlin' with the original version of 'Queer As Folk'. Maybe certain TV characters are doomed to repeat their past lives.....

BCnU!