THE HAT SQUAD: BUBBA SMITH

From the New York Times:

Bubba Smith, an outsize presence in the National Football League who went on to a prolific career in television and the movies, was found dead on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 66.

The cause was not yet known, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said, adding, “There is no indication of anything other than natural death."

As an actor, Bubba Smith is best known as Hightower in the "Police Academy" movies, a role he crossed over into the TV Universe for an episode of the televersion of the film franchise.

Smith added several citizens to the Tele-Folks Directory of Toobworld, especially regular roles in such series as 'Half Nelson', 'Semi-Tough', 'Good Times', 'Open All Night' and 'Blue Thunder'. But as a member of the League of Themselves, Bubba Smith certainly qualifies for the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame:

1994
'Married with Children' - "Dud Bowl"

1992
'Coach' - "The Bachelor Party"

1991
'Who's the Boss?' - "Death and Love: Part 2"

1987
'Mr. Belvedere' - "Separation"

1986
'Mary' - "And the Winner Is"

1973
'The Odd Couple' - "Take My Furniture, Please"

And then there were his serlinguistic turns in those Miller Lite commercials....

Good night, and may God bless.

BCnU........

FELICITY KENDAL: TWO TRIBUTES

Princess Vicky was saved for last in this two-week tribute to historical figures in 'Edward The King' because Felicity Kendal, who played the Princess Royal, is one of my all-time favorite actresses.  She captures my heart with 'The Good Neighbours' and I've since looked for anything she might have appeared in.....

Here are two tribute videos to this lovely and gracious (yet mischievous) lady....

BCnU!

VIDEO VIC

From Wikipedia:In the summers of 1962 and 1963 Damone hosted a television variety series on NBC called The Lively Ones, which showcased current jazz, pop and folk performers as well as comedians. His distinguished group of musical guests over two seasons included Count Basie, Louie Bellson, Dave Brubeck, Chris Connor, Matt Dennis, Frances Faye, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Greco, Woody Herman, Jack Jones, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Peggy Lee, Nellie Lutcher, Shelly Manne, Anita O'Day, Ruth Olay, Oscar Peterson, Andre Previn, Della Reese, Shorty Rogers, Cal Tjader, and Joe Williams. In 1962 he made a guest appearance on The Dick Van Dyke Show playing a crooner named Rick Vallone in an episode entitled "Like A Sister".

Other notable television work during this time included Damone's three guest appearances on Judy Garland's CBS variety series 'The Judy Garland Show' (1963–64). In addition to his solo performances on these three episodes, Damone and Garland sang duet medleys of songs from "Porgy and Bess", "West Side Story", and "Kismet".

Originally, the ASOTV showcase for Vic Damone was going to run on July 23. That was the day when 'The Lively Ones' debuted in 1962. But Inner Toob is running a special theme for the next two weeks (Can you guess why?), and I didn't want to interrupt it.

Since Vic Damone is now part of this Video Weekend, we might as well delve into some of his TV work; some of which was mentioned above.....

BCnU!

JOAN RIVERS & LOUIS CK

With Joan Rivers' appearance on tonight's episode of 'Louis', the sitcom starring Louis CK as a televersion of himself can be considered an official member of Toobworld. Joan Rivers is a 2011 member of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, League of Themselves division.

BCnU!

FORD FIESTA

In remembrance of the late Betty Ford (as well as for just the pure enjoyment of seeing these classic scenes), here are Mrs. Ford's two forays into Toobworld as herself.

First up, the first and the best -

Lou Grant and Mary Richards have gone to Washington, D.C., on a press junket for the weekend. And after two days of waiting for Lou's old contacts to reach out and invite them to parties, Mary finally bails on him to have dinner with a Congressman (played by Dabney Coleman). This is what happens when she gets back from her evening out.....

About six years later, Mrs. Ford is in Denver with her husband, former President Gerald Ford, to attend the famous Carousel Ball (which actually does exist, so it has its own televersion too!) And there they run into oil tycoon Blake Carrington.....

So her presence is what ties 'Dynasty' to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', and the two of them serve as the linking steps between 'Batman' and 'Phyllis', 'Rhoda', and 'Lou Grant'. (Later, nearly all of the Carringtons are wounded at the Royal wedding in Moldavia, the homeland of some antique stamps which were stolen by the Riddler. And of course, Phyllis, Rhoda, and Lou are all friends of Mayr's.)

Because it turned out that Betty Ford really had visited Lou in his hotel room, then it stands to reason that all of his visitors were actually there. Even though we didn't see them, their life during prime time must be accepted just as would be the case for whatever happened during commercial breaks, between episodes, and after cancellation.

So these are the other people who attended, and what TV shows they can link to 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show':

John Glenn - 'Frasier', and yes, even 'Name That Tune'!

Eric Sevareid - 'Taxi' and 'Call To Glory', which has a Toobworld tweak: Sevareid somehow looked the same in 1963 as he did twenty years later....

Ethel Kennedy - 'Cheers'

Hubert Humphrey - His links are all to variety shows (hosted by Dean Martin, Red Skelton, and Pat Paulsen.) But those hosts can make connections to other shows in which they appeared as themselves. For example, Dean Martin guest starred in 'Half Nelson', 'Vega$', 'The Lucy Show', and 'Make Room For Daddy', and all of them could now be added to this link.

As for 'Dynasty'? There's always 'The Colbys'.......

If only Betty Ford appeared on 'The Hollywood Squares', sitting in the seat that used to belong to Paul Lynde and Whoopi Goldberg.

Then we would have had the Betty Ford Center Square.....

BCnU!

ON THE PHONE WITH BETTY FORD

With her appearance on 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' as herself, the late First Lady Betty Ford engaged in one of the oldest TV and movie cliches ever.....

I don't know of anybody who's done this in real life. Well, I've done it on occasion - when somebody's told me something incredulous and it made me think of the cliche. But then I go and ruin the effect by telling the person on the other end of the call what I've just done.

It does seem like an outdated cliche now in the age of the cell phone......

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: BETTY FORD

In memory of a First Lady who may have done more for the country than her husband the President did.....

BETTY FORD

AS SEEN IN:
"The Betty Ford Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Gena Rowlands

From The New York Times:
Betty Ford, the outspoken and much-admired wife of President Gerald R. Ford who overcame alcoholism and an addiction to pills and helped found one of the best-known rehabilitation centers in the nation, died Friday in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 93.

Few first ladies have been as popular as Betty Ford, and it was her frankness and lack of pretense that made her so. Unlike many other wives of presidents, Mrs. Ford rarely hesitated to make public her views on touchy subjects. She spoke often in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, discussed premarital sex and revealed that she intended to share a bed with her husband in the White House.

On Sept. 28, 1974, Mrs. Ford had a radical mastectomy after doctors discovered cancer in her right breast. Within days, 10,000 letters, more than 500 telephone calls, more than 200 telegrams and scores of floral arrangements poured into the White House and into her suite at Bethesda Naval Hospital. In the months that followed, tens of thousands of American women, inspired by Mrs. Ford’s forthrightness and courage in facing her illness, crowded into doctors’ offices and clinics for breast-cancer examinations.

Breast cancer was only one of the medical battles Mrs. Ford won. Her dependency on pills began in 1964 with a medical prescription to relieve constant pain from a neck injury and a pinched nerve. Her drinking, which became troublesome as she was faced with her husband’s frequent absences on political business, grew increasingly serious as Mr. Ford’s Congressional career advanced.

In 1978, the year after leaving the White House, her husband, children, doctors and several friends confronted her about her drinking and her abuse of pills. She refused to acknowledge that a problem existed, calling her family “a bunch of monsters,” but she eventually entered the Long Beach Naval Hospital in California for treatment.

The Betty Ford Center, dedicated on Oct. 3, 1982, was a direct result of Mrs. Ford’s victory over her alcoholism and addiction. Set on 14 acres on the campus of the Eisenhower Medical Center 11 miles southeast of Palm Springs, the center was a nonprofit venture spearheaded by Mrs. Ford and Leonard K. Firestone, an industrialist and former ambassador to Belgium who raised a major part of the money.

“It’s hard to make anyone understand what it’s like to have your name on something, to be given credit for things you haven’t done,” Mrs. Ford wrote. “I’ve been at meetings where someone turned and thanked me, and I hugged the person and said, ‘Don’t thank me, thank yourself, you’re the one who did it, with God’s help.’ From the beginning, we have wanted every patient at the center to feel, ‘I’m important here, I have some dignity.’ ”
- Enid Nemy

Betty Ford is one of the few people of the real world, like Orson Welles and Johnny Carson, who have not only been portrayed by a televersion, but have also appeared as a member of the League of Themselves in fictionalized settings. She made a phone call to Mary Richards when "Mayr" visited Washington with Lou Grant in an episode of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. (When Mrs. Ford identified herself as Betty Ford, Mary gave her name as Mary... Queen of Scots.)

Here's a behind-the-scenes publicity photo of Mrs. Ford filming her cameo for 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. She and Ms. Moore didn't share the scene except by phone call, so "Mayr" might have been there to help feed her the lines to set up her dialogue.

President and Mrs. Ford, along with Henry Kissinger, attended the Carousel Ball in Denver years later, where they met members of the oil-rich Carrington Family of 'Dynasty'.

She was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame, along with her late husband President Gerald Ford, in November, 2007.
 
Good night, and may God Bless.

BCnU.....

AS SEEN ON TV: ANTONIA THE YOUNGER

We close out the first half of the year with a sad reason for the day's "As Seen On TV" showcase.....

ANTONIA THE YOUNGER

AS SEEN IN:
'I, Claudius'

AS PLAYED BY:
Margaret Tyzack

From Wikipedia:
Antonia Minor (PIR2 A 885), also known as Antonia the Younger or simply Antonia (31 January 36 BC - September/October AD 37) was the younger of two daughters of Roman politician Mark Antony and Octavia Minor.

Antonia is one of the most prominent Roman women. She is celebrated for her virtue and beauty. She was the youngest daughter to Octavia Minor and Mark Antony and was also the favorite niece of her mother’s younger brother, Rome’s first Emperor Augustus.

She was born in Athens, Greece and after 36 BC was brought to Rome by her mother and her siblings. Antonia never had the chance to know her father, Mark Antony, who divorced her mother in 32 BC and committed suicide in 30 BC. She was raised by her mother, her uncle and her aunt, Livia Drusilla. Due to inheritances, she owned properties in Italy, Greece and Egypt. She was a wealthy and influential woman who often received people, who were visiting Rome. Antonia had many male friends and they included wealthy Jew Alexander the Alabarch and Lucius Vitellius, a consul and father of future Emperor Aulus Vitellius.

In 16 BC, she married the Roman general and consul Nero Claudius Drusus. Drusus was the stepson of her uncle Augustus, second son of Livia Drusilla and brother of future Emperor Tiberius. They had several children, but only three survived: the famous general Germanicus, Livilla and the Roman Emperor Claudius.

Antonia was the grandmother of the Emperor Caligula, the Empress Agrippina the Younger and through Agrippina, great-grandmother and great-aunt of the Emperor Nero. Drusus died in June 9 BC in Germany, due to complications from injuries he sustained after falling from a horse. After his death, although pressured by her uncle to remarry, she never did.

Antonia would often offer Caligula advice, but he once told her, "I can treat anyone exactly as I please!". Caligula was rumored to have had his young cousin Gemellus beheaded, to remove him as a rival to the throne. This act was said to have outraged Antonia, who was grandmother to Gemellus as well as to Caligula.

Having had enough of Caligula’s anger at her criticisms and of his behavior, she committed suicide. Suetonius’s Caligula, clause 23, mentions how he might have poisoned her.

When his grandmother Antonia asked for a private interview, he refused it except in the presence of the prefect Macro, and by such indignities and annoyances he caused her death; although some think that he also gave her poison. After she was dead, he paid her no honour, but viewed her burning pyre from his dining-room.

When Claudius became emperor after his nephew’s assassination in 41 AD, he gave his mother the title of Augusta. Her birthday became a public holiday, which had yearly games and public sacrifices held. An image of her was paraded in a carriage.

We're featuring Antonia today because the actress who portrayed her in 'I, Claudius', Dame Margaret Tyzack, has passed away.....

Good night and may God bless.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: CLARENCE CLEMONS

The Big Man has left the band - On June 18th, having suffered a massive stroke a few days earlier, Clarence Clemons passed away. After Bruce Springsteen himself, the saxonphone player was probably the musician most identified with the E Street Band.

With appearances on talk shows, variety programs, award presentations, and the news magazines '60 Minutes' and 'TV Nation', Clarence Clemons created his televersion as a member of the E Street Band. But he truly immersed himself in Toobworld with these appearances in fictional storylines as a member of the League of Themselves:

'Brothers' - "Meet Mike Trainor, Assistant Coach"

'Til Death' - "Eddie's Book"

'That's Life' - "Sex In The Suburbs"

And with those three, Clarence Clemons is eligible for induction into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.

But the Big Man wasn't done making an impact - Clemons also contributed several other citizens to the Toobworld Registry:

'The Wire' - Roman (in two episodes)

'My Wife And Kids' - Johnny Watson

'Viper' - Leo Duquesne

'The Weird Al Show' - A Miner

'The Sentinel' - A Workman

'Nash Bridges' - Big Barry (in three episodes)

'The Flash' - Darrell Hennings

THE BIG MAN GETS FLASHED...

'Jake And The Fatman' - Blue Danny Boyd

'Diff'rent Strokes' - Mr. Kingsley

The void he left behind may prove to be immeasurable. My condolences go out not only to his family and the other members of the E Street Band, but to all of his fans as well.

Good night and May God bless.
BCnU......

STREEP THE BEATLES!

Supposedly that's Meryl Streep on the left hand side in this CBS news report about kids waiting to see the Beatles.

Years later, she mentioned going to see the Beatles......

But her memories don't seem to jibe with that footage. Of course, maybe she already ditched the sign....

Did you know I can take part in the Kevin Bacon game because of Meryl Streep?  Along with a lot of other UConn Drama students back in the mid 1970's, I was an extra in a TV movie she did called "The Deadliest Season".  (The original title was better - "Penalty Killer".) 

She played Michael Moriarty's wife.  If you ever get the chance to see it, I show up in nine pretty good close-ups in the first half hour at various hockey games.  After that, it's mostly courtroom and domestic scenes.

But she then appeared in "River Wild" with Kevin Bacon, so I can make that connection in two moves.

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: PETER FALK

Good night and may God bless.

Rest in peace, Sir.  And thank you......

OOH, LA LAW

ROSE:

"Every Sunday I watch 'la Law'."

DOROTHY:
"That's 'L.A. Law'!"
(Later)
SOPHIA:

"Very nice 'counselor'!

Just exactly how close are you to the TV when you're watching 'la Law'?"

'The Golden Girls'

With this example of a Zonk, there's no mention of the MacKenzie-Brackman law firm. So it could be that 'L.A. Law' in Toobworld was the generic title for a reality show, along the same lines as 'L.A. Ink'... only about lawyers.

That reality show could still have been about MacKenzie-Brackman, especially since some of the kids left their zip code comfort zone of 'Beverly Hills 90210' and drove by the office building where the law firm was located - and one of them mentioned that he didn't watch the show.

Three of the actors who starred in 'L.A. Law' in the Trueniverse were mentioned in connection to the show - Harry Hamlin (on 'Six Feet Under'), Jimmy Smits (on 'Married... With Children'), and Corbin Bernsen (in episodes of 'Just Shoot Me', 'Seinfeld', and 'Matlock'). But here's a possible splainin: they all appeared as themselves on the reality show called 'L.A. Law', with the law firm handling cases for them.

Another mention of interest - in 'Psych', Henry Spenser was a likely candidate to be the identical cousin of Arnold Becker. And back in 1989, Henry thought the show would be a passing fad (despite the involvement of his cousin.) With all of these mentions - even into the new millennium! -  if it is a reality show in Toobworld, it proved to have legs.

Finally, Alan Rachins appeared in an episode of 'Eli Stone' in which he was credited as a "Familiar Lawyer". Longtime visitors to Toobworld know that I don't put much stock in credits, but I think it would be safe to assume that he was actually Douglas Brackman.

But here's the thing - representing Eli at his disbarment hearing, this "familiar lawyer" was working for a law firm called McKinley-Breckman, not MacKenzie-Brackman.

It's a bit intricate, and built on sand, but here's how it might work.....

'L.A. Law' went off the air in 1994, but its last appearance in Toobworld was in 2002 with the reunion TV movie. So in that six year span, until Rachins showed up in that 'Eli Stone' episode, anything could have happened to Douglas Brackman.

It could be that he finally committed an act of sexual deviance so heinous that the partners of the firm had no choice but to convene and drum him out of the firm with a vote. Desperate to still trade on the firm's name to build up business for himself, Douglas could have incorporated himself as a law firm with fictional partners named McKinley and Breckman. (We've seen that happen before in Toobworld - 'Eisenhower & Lutz'.)

Douglas may have wanted to make the potential client think he was still affiliated with McKenzie-Brackman, hoping they weren't too familiar with the original firm's name. Eli Stone would have known the difference, but it wouldn't have mattered. He wanted the best lawyer for the situation, and probably no one knew the intricacies of office politics in a law firm better than Douglas Brackman.

Anyhoo, it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble.....

BCnU!

TELEVIS-IAN

This is going out to my nephew Ian. Here his worlds collide, as he's a big fan of the Bruins and of Wiz Kalifa....

BCnU!

HOMETOWN HEADLINES

I don't watch Jay Leno, which is no slight against him as I don't watch any of the late night talk shows on a regular basis - only if there's going to be something special that I need to see.

So I didn't know about the latest entry in his "Headlines" routine until a few days later, thanks to a mention in the Facebook page for my hometown newspaper. It was their turn to get tweaked when Leno turned the spotlight on one of their own headlines.

It'll be the one about the advice given by an energy conservation expert.....

BCnU!

FRIDAY MUG SHOT - JUNE 17th

Here's the Friday Mug-Shot.  This actor is seen in a turn of the 20th Century mystery in which he was a rather seedy corporate/industrial spy.  It will be a Toobworld theory of relateeveety that his grandson will restore honor to the family name by joining the police force, even serving after his retirement.

That should be enough of a clue.  Tell me the name of the actor, and what show he's best known for today.....

I'll let you know Monday and spell out the entire theory about his look-alike grandson.....

BCnU!

Addendum:

Turns out that I missed James Bolam's birthday by a day with this post.  Pure serendipiteevee that I chose him over a few other options I had.  Well, once again my brother is in good company for being born on the 16th of June.....

THE HAT SQUAD: REMEMBERING ANDREW GOLD

Singer/songwriter Andrew Gold has passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack.  He's best known for his 1977 hit "Lonely Boy", but for Toobworld purposes, perhaps his biggest achievement was penning this classic theme song:

But the case could also be made for this theme song as well:

Here's Andrew Gold on 'The Midnight Special' performing "Lonely Boy".  I always loved the repeated hook in this sad song......

Finally, as a member of the Idiot's Delight Digest, an online group celebrating deejay Vin Scelsa and free-form radio, for the last sixteen years at least, I've been introduced to a lot of music I might not otherwise have heard.

And I can thank Steve Cohen, of the lofty Cohen brothers for first turning me on (dead man) to this song, in which Andrew Gold and friends reveled in their love of the psychedelic era:

Rest in peace, Andrew Gold.  Good night and may God bless.......

AS SEEN ON TV: WARREN BUFFETT

Of all the famous names in the 2008 financial crisis to be portrayed in the HBO movie "Too Big To Fail", only one proved problematic for Toobworld:

WARREN BUFFETT

 AS SEEN IN:

"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:

Ed Asner

STATUS:

Recastaway

Unlike all of the other televersions in this historical replay, Warren Buffett had already been portrayed in the main Toobworld. (Timothy Geithner had been portrayed previously, but that was over in Skitlandia on several editions of 'Saturday Night Live'.) Added to that quandary is the fact that it was Warren Buffett as a member of the League of Themselves in an episode of 'All My Children'.

The billionaire may have even been playing himself in the season finale of 'The Office'. Who knows why a man of his status would want to take the position of manager for a paper company branch in Scranton, Pa.? (Perhaps there's even more trouble with the Berkshire Group than previously known.....) Although we don't give credence to credits, Buffett was only listed as "Interviewee". So he could have been playing himself, or he could have been an identical cousin, or some other Doppelganger.)

Leaving his appearance on 'The Office' out of the equation, we still have the recastaway problem between 'All My Children' and "Too Big To Fail".

The HBO TV movie was a re-creation of true events, based on a book chronicling the collapse of the financial markets in 2008. Using documented evidence like scheduled meetings as a guide, certain characters would have met with each other, as seen on TV. There might have been transcripts of those meetings from which dialogue could be drawn. But not all of that interplay could be public record. A lot of dialogue which occurred behind closed doors must have been from the imagination of the screenwriter only.

So at least one aspect of the story had to be fictionalized. Why not then take a quantum leap into supposition and suggest other aspects may have only happened in Earth Prime-Time but not on Earth Prime?

How about this - Warren Buffett was replaced by a time traveler from the Future? (Speaking of 'Quantum Leap'.....)

To the audience viewing at home, if you're familiar with 'Quantum Leap', the Leaper would be visible as himself. But to those within the Toobworld reality, the Leaper would look like the "Leapee".

So, as realistic as "Too Big To Fail" strove to be, it was still the Toobworld version of events, and that is never exactly the same as what happens in the Trueniverse.

We've seen History change all the time in Toobworld - historical figures having their lives changed by the Doctor (Van Gogh, Dickens, Queen Victoria, for example), the Enterprise crew (Mark Twain, for one), and time travelers coming into contact with Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy (as seen on the old and new versions of 'The Twilight Zone'.)

So why can't it happen in recent history as well?

Therefore, the Warren Buffett of "Too Big To Fail" was from the Future (farther along in the timeline than Dr. Sam Beckett), sent back to that critical time in History "to make right what once went wrong." And having accomplished the task, the Leaper returned to the Future and Buffett rejoined his life, already in progress.....

BCnU!

"GOODNIGHT BURBANK"

My tele-bloggin' buddy Joe Bua (of "I Am A TV Junkie" fame - you'll find the link to the left, blokes!) clued me in to this new online sitcom called 'Goodnight Burbank'.

It's not really for me, although it's mostly because I just don't do longform online TV very well. My attention begins to wander and there's so many tangents I want to explore in the Internet.

And I'm puzzled as to why Dominic Monaghan is slumming in this. As a favor to a friend, perhaps?

But I did like this episode because it offered up a leading contender for a 2011 Toobits Award with the presence of John Barrowman as himself.....

BCnU!

TIP TOP TAPS

Big thanks to J.r. Klink for digging up this chestnut. As a big fan of everybody in this clip from Dean Martin's show, I had a big grin on my face when I first saw it......

BCnU!

U68? U-BET!

I remember watching "Nocturnal Transmissions" from U68 back around 1982, when MTV wasn't on the Manhattan cable system yet. It was grainy and on a black & white set in my bedroom, but it opened up a whole new, yet very transitory, world of TV music.

When I finally got the chance to see MTV, I actually preferred the low-rent flavor of U68.

Thanks to my friend Scully, here's a collection of station IDs by mostly famous personalities for U68.....

BCnU!