SKED ALERT - TONIGHT, ON "TRUE BLOOD"

I've been away on vacation the last couple of weeks, and will be leaving again shortly, so Toobworld Central is in a bit of a disarray. But the August TV Western salute is still on schedule, and hopefully so is the "As Seen On TV" showcase, although I may have to abandon the scheme to use all TV Western historical characters for it (since I've used so many of them over the last few years.)

In the meantime, I will try to maintain a business as usual approach, and that means posting a few preview clips from the 'True Blood' episode which will air tonight on HBO at 9 pm ET......

And here's a sneak peek at what's coming up later in this season of 'True Blood':

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!

'EDWARD THE KING": EPISODE 1, PART 1

'Edward The King' will be our theme these next two weeks. Why? Because I'll be on vacation!

If this mini-series from the early 1970's piques your interest, then you can find it on Netflix.  And the first few chapters (at least six I believe) are available in segments on YouTube.

Here's the first part of the first episode if you'd like the chance to sample it....

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 07/2011 - AMOS BURKE

Here it is, the middle of July, I'm on the eve of my vacation, and I forgot to induct a new member into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for the month. And I better do it now, because by the time I get back, it'll be time to induct our August Westerner!

And so, we're inducting the wealthiest police detective in all of Telemerica:

AMOS BURKE

This month's choice was spurred by a memorial induction back in May - Honey West. (She was chosen in tribute to Anne Francis, who died earlier in the year.)

Honey West is a multiversal who got her start in a series of novels, but her life in Toobworld began with an episode of 'Burke's Law'. From there she launched into her own series and finally returned to 'Burke's Law' decades later (but now with the married name of "Best".)

The main character of 'Burke's Law' was the type of detective you could probably only find in Toobworld - Amos Burke was a millionaire who didn't bother to lead a life of leisure. Intead he was a captain in the Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. Eventually he became the chief of the bureau.

(As such, certain LAPD detectives may have worked for him - Lt. Columbo, Pepper Anderson, Dennis Becker, Baretta, Hunter, Starsky & Hutch, and the Major Crimes squad - but before Assistant Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, known for her skills as 'The Closer', joined the team.)

In its third season, Amos Burke became a globe-trotting spy who answered to "The Man" - 'Burke's Law' became 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent'. At first it was the Toobworld Central ruling that this was an Amos Burke from an alternate TV dimension. Same man, different life.

But because I wanted to make Mr. Sin (a character played by Michael Dunn) into an alias for Dr. Loveless, I needed to keep the show's reboot in Earth Prime-Time.

So now Amos Burke took a sabbatical from the LAPD at the government's request and worked as an intelligence operative.

Again, only in Toobworld.

By the early 1990's, we learned that not only had Amos Burke resumed his duties with the LAPD years before, but he was now in charge of the Homicide Division but also that he was working with his son Peter.

(This is not the same Peter Burke who now works for the FBI in New York, as seen in 'White Collar'. But he could be a nephew to Amos Burke.)

So Captain Burke's candidacy for membership in the Hall does have a bit of a grey area. There are two versions of 'Burke's Law' - the original and the sequel - and then there's the sequel of 'Amos Burke, Secret Agent'. (While it followed immediately after the original series, it had a radical change in premise as well as a new title. Claiming it as a different series is the same argument made regarding 'Archie Bunker's Place' during Archie's induction.)

Add to that Amos Burke as the introduction to Honey West, so his show had two sequels and a spin-off. If you search Inner Toob for 'Burke's Law', you'll see that I've made plenty of theoretical connections to other shows as well.

Besides all of that, Amos Burke was quite the colorful character, highly prized in Toobworld's Tele-folks Directory.

And that's why he's "Mr. July" for 2011 in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

BCnU!

SKED ALERT! "TRUE BLOOD" FOR SUNDAY, JULY 17

Regular features for Inner Toob will be whittled down to basically just the "As Seen On TV" showcase for the next two weeks.  You can probably figure out why.......

So here's the last preview clips I'll be able to supply for 'True Blood' until August:

'True Blood' airs on HBO Sundays at 9 pm EST and then throughout the week. Check your local listings.

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!

"DOCTOR WHO" ON JULY 4TH? PARRISH THE THOUGHT!

Happy Fourth of July! Happy Independence Day!

Or as they might say elsewhere in the world, Happy Monday!

As a Toobworld contribution to the Fourth of July theme, I'd like to offer this painting by my favorite artist, Maxfield Parrish:

"With Trumpet and Drum"

With big tin trumpet and

little red drum,

Marching like soldiers,

the children come!

The piece is entitled "With Trumpet And Drum" and it is dated from 1904. It was one of eight plates by Parrish to illustrate "Poems of Childhood" by the late Eugene Field. (He died nearly a decade earlier at the age of 45.)

As you can see in the picture, there was a clear influence for the main character in the painting:

The Gallifreyan Time Lord has met famous painters in the past, most notably Vincent Van Gogh and Leonardo da Vinci, but also Michaelangelo and Gainesborough. So why not Maxfield Parrish?

I'm not offering up any splainins as to the circumstance leading to the meeting between Parrish and the Doctor. There are not enough "facts" available to make concrete connections within the reality of Toobworld.

This is more along the lines of fanficcer territory. So as a fanfic enabler, I will make a few suggestions... if you feel inspired to write about this encounter between the Doctor and Maxfield Parrish.

1]  Their adventure should take place in 1903, giving Parrish enough time to use the Eleventh Incarnation of the Doctor as the inspiration for the little drummer boy. And it should be something that might have borne a resemblance to the finished painting - only with a little boy rather than the boyish "young" Doctor.

2]  Parrish lived in New Hampshire, so the action should take place there. As with a lot of the wild areas in New England, the mountainous terrain and back country forests of New Hampshire are home to many myths, legends, and tall tales. Large lumbering giants and small devilish imp-folk can be found in the stories there. With either group, it should be easy to come up with an alien origin for their kind.

3]  Look into the actual history for New Hampshire at the turn of the 20th Century. There might be something that happened that could be given a 'Doctor Who' twist, which has always been a staple of the show.

4]  Was the event something that only the children of the area could deal with, because the adults had all been entranced by the alien adversary?

5]  And whether you use Amy Pond as his Companion, or some other young loverly who tagged along during that hiatus for the Amy & the Doctor team between "The Big Bang" and "The Impossible Astronaut", at some point in the story she should emulate at least one of the poses in other famous paintings by Maxfield Parrish.

Me, I'm partial to "Ecstasy" myself, but "Reverie" and "Hope" might also fit the bill.

If you do end up writing some 'Doctor Who' fanfic to go with this patriotic painting, please send a copy along to me. I'd love to read it!

Again, Happy Fourth of July!

BCnU!

COLLECTEEVEE SOUL

The Sunday commercial break......

While watching the AMC marathon of 'The Rifleman' off my DVR yesterday, I saw this commercial:

That song in the background was bothering me; that I knew it and remembered hearing it often, but I just couldn't place it.

Took me five minutes to find the answer online, and that was mostly taken up with just logging in!

Long ago I lost any sense of amazement at what I could find on the internet. That's been replaced by the shock at the things I can't find. (Like a picture of Joel Grey in the NBC production of "George M.!" back in the early 70's......)

BCnU!

A SIGH FOR HELP

I don't know what's going on......

All the icons for the 70 members of Team Toobworld no longer show up on my blog. And when I check the page elements in the design section of the blog's dashboard, all I get is a message saying that the page can't be displayed.

First my counter no longer appeared and its numbers remain frozen, and now this.

It's not like I tinkered with anything. I try to do as little as possible with the maintenance on the site. I post, and that's about it.....

Any suggestions?

Toby O'B

QUANTUM WEEP

What keeps a televisiologist from getting a good night's sleep?

What would happen if a Weeping Angel touched Dr. Sam Beckett while he was living the life of a "leapee"? Would he be sent back further in Time or would that happen to the leapee? What if the Angel touched him as he was leaping out?

SHOWS CITED:
'Doctor Who'
'Quantum Leap'

BCnU!

SUPER-SIX LIST: "COLUMBO" EPISODES

I'm sending this out to a fellow crossover enthusiast named Gordon. He's seen several of the ABC TV movies about 'Columbo', but he apparently is too young to have seen the original run of the series from NBC. So to help him get started (Netflix online, Gordon!), here is a Super-Six list of my favorite episodes from the series as a whole.

1] "IDENTITY CRISIS"
My all-time favorite TV series is 'The Prisoner', so just for the opportunity to see Patrick McGoohan as the guest star would have been enough. But the episode (directed by McGoohan) is full of allusions to 'The Prisoner' - visual imagery referring to "#1", the design of McGoohan's windbreaker, the phrase "Be Seeing You".... Plus McGoohan's line readings are brilliantly off-kilter - just the way he says "I know!" is a pleasure.

2] "TRY AND CATCH ME"
This mostly has to do with Ruth Gordon as a sweet but crafty Agatha Christie type. But it also has an ingenious solution to the murder, worthy of the grande dame of mysteries.

3] "DAGGER OF THE MIND"
This is the first - and best - of several episodes that played with the show's formula - Columbo in London! (There would also be Columbo on a cruise and Columbo in Mexico.) Now he was in Christie country, complete with a country manor setting, a wax museum, pubs, theatre in the West End, and a gentlemen's club which I've decided was the famed Diogenes Club from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Peter Falk did some location shooting in London, but most of the episode was shot in California with excellent British ex-pats providing support for Richard Basehart and Honor Blackman as the hammy Shakespearean murderers - Bernard Fox, John Williams, Ronald Long, Arthur Malet, and Wilfred Hyde-White.

(Having now seen John Fraser in an episode of 'The Rivals Of Sherlock Holmes', I'll have to watch "Dagger Of The Mind" again to spot him. He's prominently listed in the end credits, but I just don't remember him in the episode.)

4] "ANY OLD PORT IN A STORM"
The relationship that grows between Columbo and the murderer, Adrian Carsini, culminating in that last visit to the winery is probably the best in the series. And Donald Pleasance as Adrian is so... well, endearing, that it took me many viewings to realize just how ruthless his crime was.

5] "BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT"
Again, an episode with Patrick McGoohan as the muderer, and the first of his four appearances. The great thing about his murderers is that each of them looked so different from each other. A problem I always had with the repeat performances by Robert Culp and Jack Cassidy, among others, is that - great as the actors were - how come Columbo never noticed their similarities? Also, this was a nice spin on the formula in which the murderer was undone by that for which he committed the crime. In this case, it was the traditions of the school and subsequent infractions.....

6] "COLUMBO CRIED WOLF"
I'd say this was absolutely brilliant, but one thing mars it - that awful title.

This had the best capper of a revelation at the end since early episodes like "Short Fuse" and "Suitable For Framing". But best of all was the shout-out to the past - a mention of Chief Superintendent Inspector Dirk of Scotland Yard from "Dagger Of The Mind", and an uncredited appearance by Bruce Kirby. He was probably appearing as Sgt. Kramer, now promoted.

This is the only episode of the ABC run to make the list and it mostly had to do with the very inventive script by William Read Woodfield.

'Columbo' is in my top five TV series of all time*, so it was tough to limit this list to my self-proscribed "Super Six". But here's a Top Ten list of runners-up:

"Requiem For A Falling Star"
"Forgotten Lady"
"Uneasy Lies The Crown"
"Prescription: Murder"
"Negative Reaction"
"Etude In Black"
"A Stitch In Crime"
"Candidate For Crime"
"Mind Over Mayhem"
"Lovely But Lethal"

Just one more thing......

I'd watch any 'Columbo' episode over and over again, but I will admit some of them are not that strong. These would be at the bottom of the collection:

"Undercover"
"Dead Weight"
"An Old-Fashioned Murder"
"Make Me A Perfect Murder"
"Lady In Waiting"
"Ransom For A Dead Man"
"No Time To Die"
"Columbo And The Murder Of A Rock Star"
"Murder In Malibu"
"Columbo Likes The Night Life"

Sadly, that was Columbo's swan song.

BCnU.......
 
* Okay, just in case you were interested in my Top Five TV series:
'The Prisoner'
'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'
'The Dick Van Dyke Show'
'Columbo'
'Doctor Who'

AS SEEN ON TV: THE PIED PIPER

We interrupt the look at the major figures involved in "The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers" for this Sunday edition of the Video Weekend ASOTV showcase.

On this date in 1284, the Pied Piper led 130 children out of Hamelin, Germany.....

THE PIED PIPER

AS SEEN IN:

"The Pied Piper Of Hamelin"

AS PLAYED BY:
Van Johnson

From Wikipedia:
In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a man dressed in pied clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He promised the townsmen a solution for their problem with the rats. The townsmen in turn promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted, and played a musical pipe to lure the rats with a song into the Weser River, where all but one drowned. Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay the rat-catcher the full amount of money. The man left the town angrily, but vowed to return some time later, seeking revenge.

On Saint John and Paul's day while the inhabitants were in church, he played his pipe yet again, dressed in green, like a hunter, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and never seen again. Depending on the version, at most three children remained behind. One of the children was lame and could not follow quickly enough, the second was deaf and followed the other children out of curiosity, and the last was blind and unable to see where they were going. These three informed the villagers of what had happened when they came out of church.

Other versions, but not the traditional ones, claim that the Piper lured the children into the river and let them drown like the rats, or led the children to a cave on Köppen Hill or Koppelberg Hill, outside of Hamelin, then killed them.

Another version relates that the Pied Piper hypnotized the children into following him to the top of Koppelberg Hill, where he took them to a mysterious land and had his wicked way, or a place called Koppenberg Mountain. This version states that the Piper returned the children after payment, or that he returned the children after the villagers paid several times the original amount of gold.

The story may reflect an historical event in which Hamelin lost its children. Theories have been proposed suggesting that the Pied Piper is a symbol of the children's death by plague or catastrophe. Other theories liken him to figures like Nicholas of Cologne, who lured away a great number of children on a disastrous Children's Crusade. A recent theory ties the departure of Hamelin's children to the Ostsiedlung, in which a number of Germans left their homes to colonize Eastern Europe.

The fact that the characters sing and speak in rhyme could mean that the town of Hamelin was under the sway of Mr. Sweet the demon at that time. (Mr. Sweet was seen in an episode of 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and was a 2005 inductee into the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.)

BCnU!

PS:
I remember seeing this TV movie when I was a kid, years after its original presentation on the old Dumont Network.  And I remember being disturbed that the crippled kid got left behind.....

SUMMER READS

My goal is to read more on my summer vacations rather than watch a lot of DVDs. (Although I do plan on bringing 'The Sarah Jane Adventures' to share with my seven year old nephew.)

During the two blocks of two week vacations, I'm already planning on finishing "All-Consuming Fire" which teamed up Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson with the Seventh Incarnation of the Doctor from 'Doctor Who'. And then there's "Mirkwood" a novel about J.R.R. Tolkien.

This may make a nice companion piece to the latter.....

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!

"VEENA SUD," SAID VEENA SUD.....

Near the end of my Toobworld novel, a race of elves are created after the "Big Hiatus". Along with the puppet trees, they are a tip of my hat to the influence which J.R.R. Tolkien has had on me.

I've even suggested a language for these elves (whom I think now will probably resemble the Targaryens from 'Game Of Thrones' as their TV influence), which I may as well call toobish. It was created from the names of people involved in the production of TV back home in the real world, and a few examples are given - "mirren" means twin, "tennant" means decade, "pertwee" is a child, "wendt" would be all the permutations of "to go", and "zmed" would be something you don't want to step in.....

Thanks to the season finale of 'The Killing' (which for me is now the series finale as well), I have a complete phrase to be used by the elves, these kendal (for want of a better collective name in toobish for them) - "veena sud".

Veena Sud is the producer who adapted a well-received international murder mystery TV show and reduced it, maligned it, ruined it, with this sluggish, dull, drawn-out affair peopled with paper-thin cyphers for characters. And then as the final thumb in the eye (a turn of phrase from Alan Sepinwall) for the audience, she denied them the opportunity to learn who the murderer was at the end of the season, instead holding off until next season for that revelation... if then. She claims that it was never stated that the answer would be revealed by season's end, but it was implied with the way the show was advertised ("Who killed Rosie Larsen?").

Veena Sud took a promising property and trampled it all into a steaming pile of zmed.

So "veena sud" is a phrase that basically means what Veena Sud has told an audience who put good faith into sticking through the whole sad/sorry series, waiting for an answer.

"Veena sud" - "Bleep you."


BCnU!

TELEFFLUVIAN QUICKIES

By next TV season, the Inner Toob showcase "As Seen On TV" will have some fresh material to draw from: Rob Lowe as Drew Peterson, the Illinois cop suspected of killing his third and fourth wives will be seen in a new TV movie. Kaley Cuocco will co-star, probably as one of those wives.

~

I should have saved last Monday's ASOTV showcase of Philip II of Spain for later in the week:

June 15
1580 – Philip II of Spain declares William the Silent to be an outlaw.

June 16
1586 – Mary, Queen of Scots, recognizes Philip II of Spain as her heir and successor.

Well, at least as far as June 16 goes, I preferred using Stan Laurel as a birthday salute to my brother AJ.

~

Sunday night, the season finales of both 'Game Of Thrones' and 'The Killing' were broadcast (on HBO and AMC, respectively). Both shows asked their audiences to toss away their calcified TV viewing expectations - one by killing off the main character an episode shy of the season finale; the other by going the long-form route to focus on only one murder case over the span of the whole season.

'Game Of Thrones' succeeded - I can't wait for Spring 2012 so that I might once more travel through the lands of Westeros again. 'The Killing' did not - instead of wrapping up the case, the producers decided to turn the ending into a cliff-hanger as leverage for a new season, which AMC granted them. (They may not have come right out and said the murder of Rosie Larsen would be solved by season's end, but it was implied and assumed and no effort was made to dispell those beliefs. Fine. But let's see how low the audience figures are when the show returns - I know I'm not returning ever again. I'll keep track via online episode guides only long enough to find out who the true killer was.)

Both shows will get plenty of notice in the 2011 Toobits Awards at the end of the year, but at different ends of the spectrum.....

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!

"SPIDERMONSTER: THE MUSICAL"

The musical "Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark" opened this week (finally!) to rather tepid reviews, which I guess had to be expected.

Mark the birthday boy pointed out this video on his Facebook page, saying that it had him laughing until he fell out of his chair.

Mark is easily amused. (He'd have to be, to spend all that time with his boyfriend Michael......)

But I did find it funny myself that even 'Sesame Street' took notice of the musical's troubles.....

 
There is something creepy, though, about that blue "beard" of Grover's, sticking out from his Spidey costume....
 
BCnU!

GINGER ALERT!

Being a ginger m'self who had a bout of sun poisoning once as a kid, this PSA left me concerned.......

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!