OUR TOP STORY TONIGHT: CASEY ANTHONY

My Iddiette friend Kristin McCracken shared this on Facebook, regarding today's top story:

Best. Tweet. Ever?

RT @drnik46: Look out, Casey Anthony. Dexter lives in Florida...

Me? I'm not going to pass judgement until I see the Lifetime movie.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: TIMOTHY GEITHNER [THIRD TIME'S THE CHARM]

TIMOTHY GEITHNER

AS SEEN IN:
"The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers"

AS PLAYED BY:
Alex Jennings

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

Click here if you want to see Geithner as he appeared not only in the TV dimension known (for now) as the Land of Remakes, but also in Skitlandia.....

And since it's Saturday and we're kicking off our video weekend, here's the cold open from a 'Saturday Night Live' episode with the Secretary of the Treasury......

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!

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!

"GAME OF THRONES" PARODY

As my little buddy Sean (the "GoT" Boy) commented, this is rather weak, but I'm still in that stage where I can't get enough of anything connected to 'Game of Thrones'.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: SPALDING GRAY

Spalding Gray, American actor, writer, and monologist, was born on this day in 1941......

SPALDING GRAY

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Michael McKean

From Wikipedia:
Spalding Rockwell Gray (June 5, 1941 – ca. January 10, 2004) was an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, performance artist, and monologuist. He was primarily known for his "trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania." Gray achieved celebrity for writing and acting in the play Swimming to Cambodia, adapted into a film in 1987.

He began his career in regional theatre, moved to New York in 1967 and three years later joined Richard Schechner's experimental troupe, the Performance Group. He co-founded the Wooster Group ensemble in 1975. He died in New York City of an apparent suicide. A documentary film about his life, entitled And Everything is Going Fine, was released in 2010 and is directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Gray was born in Providence, Rhode Island, to Rockwell Gray, Sr., the treasurer of Brown & Sharpe, and Margaret Elizabeth "Betty" Horton, a homemaker. He also had two younger brothers – Channing Michael and Rockwell, Jr. He was raised in the Christian Scientist faith and grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island, spending summers at his grandmother's house in Newport.

After graduating from Barrington High School, he enrolled at Emerson College as a poetry major, where he earned his B.A. in 1963.

In 1965, Gray moved to San Francisco and became a speaker and teacher of poetry at the Esalen Institute. In 1967, while Gray was vacationing in Mexico City, his mother committed suicide at the age of 52. After his mother's death, Gray moved away from the west coast and permanently settled in New York City.

Gray's books "Impossible Vacation" and "Sex and Death to the Age 14" are largely based on his childhood and early adulthood.

He would have been 70 years old today.....

BCnU!

ALT-COLUMBO

Here's another TVXOHOF member as he appeared in Skitlandia:

BCnU!

MAYBERY IN SKITLANDIA

Both Sheriff Andy Taylor of 'The Andy Griffith Show' and comedy legend Bob Hope (as himself) are members of the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame.

With this sketch from a 1963 Bob Hope comedy special, we learn that Andy Taylor also exists in Skitlandia - where he proves himself to be tele-cognizant and able to come back from the dead.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS

June 4, 1783 – The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their montgolfière (hot air balloon).

THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS

AS SEEN IN:
'Monty Python's Flying Circus'

AS PLAYED BY:
Terry Jones (Joseph)
&
Eric Idle (Jacques)

"Inner Toob" previously wrote about the event three years ago as a Tiddlywinkydink.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: VINCENT PRICE

VINCENT PRICE

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:

DAN AYKROYD

MICHAEL McKEAN

 

BILL HADER

May 27th marked the 100th anniversary of Vincent Price's birth and at Toobworld Central isn't done with celebrating the life of this legendary actor, art connoisseur, and gourmet cook.

But I'm not the right choice to fete this man properly. Instead, I'd like to point you towards the following blogs by some of my comrades which give great insights into the man and some of his roles.......

FILMICABILITY

THE FLAMING NOSE
both by Dean Treadway

A SHROUD OF THOUGHTS

THRILLING DAYS OF YESTERYEAR

EDWARD COPELAND ON FILM... AND MORE
Both by Ivan Shreve

And if you visit Hulu, you can find several of the Vincent Price TV specials that Bill Hader has lampooned so well over the last few years on SNL. (Currently there are four available to be seen. Select "TV Clips" for Type and "Saturday Night Live" for Show to winnow it down to that quartet.)

A Trilogy of Terror for Tuesday!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MOZART & FRIENDS



WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

AS SEEN DURING:
The 'Saturday Night Live' Dress Rehearsal

AS PLAYED BY:
Justin Timberlake

TV DIMENSION:
Skitlandia

For some reason, it was decided that this sketch wasn't good enough to make the actual broadcast. But since NBC did post the dress rehearsal version online, and since Toobworld Central does accept online content to be part of the TV Universe, this sketch is deemed to be part of Toobworld.

Also seen in this sketch with Mozart were:

ANTONIO SALIERI
(Andy Samberg)



JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
(Jason Sudeikis)

The only one missing to make this a Fab Four would have been Ludwig von Beethoven.  Sadly, it's long too late for that to have happened.....

 BCnU!

CELEBRATING DYLAN'S SEVENTIETH

Happy 70th Birthday, Mr. Dylan!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: TIMOTHY GEITHNER

TIMOTHY GEITHNER

AS SEEN IN:
"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:
Billy Crudup

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
Timothy Franz Geithner (born August 18, 1961) is an American economist, banker, and civil servant. He is the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Barack Obama. He was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Geithner's position includes a large role in directing the Federal Government's spending on the financial crisis of 2007–2011, including allocation of $350 billion of funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program enacted during the previous administration. At the end of his first year in office, he continued to deal with multiple high visibility issues, including administration efforts to restructure the regulation of the nation's financial system, attempts to spur recovery of both the mortgage market and the automobile industry, demands for protectionism, President Obama's tax changes, and negotiations with foreign governments on approaches to worldwide financial issues.

 

TIMOTHY GEITHNER

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Will Forte

TV DIMENSION:
Skitlandia

Two for Tuesday!

AS SEEN ON TV: ANN-MARGRET & ROGER SMITH

ANN-MARGRET & ROGER SMITH
AS SEEN ON:

'Saturday Night Live'

ANN-MARGRET

AS PLAYED BY:
Kristen Wiig

From Wikipedia:
Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in "Bye Bye Birdie", "Viva Las Vegas", "The Cincinnati Kid", "Carnal Knowledge", and "Tommy".

She has won five Golden Globe Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and six Emmy Awards.

She did a string of successful TV specials, starting with "The Ann-Margret Show" for NBC / CBS in 1968.

She made guest appearances on the television shows 'Touched by an Angel' in 2000 and three episodes of 'Third Watch' in 2003. She also appeared in the Lifetime series 'Army Wives', in the episode "Guns and Roses" (Season 4, Episode 5), which originally aired May 9, 2010. On October 14, 2010, Ann-Margret appeared on CBS' 'CSI'.

Ann-Margret guest-starred in an episode of 'Law & Order: SVU', "Bedtime," which first aired on March 31, 2010. She received her sixth Emmy nomination for her performance. On August 29, 2010, she won an Emmy Award for Guest Performance by an Actress for her "SVU" performance. It was the first Emmy win of her career, and she received a standing ovation from the Emmy venue audience as she approached the stage to receive her award.

Ann-Margret starred in several TV movies, including "Queen: The Story of an American Family" (1993) and "Life of the Party" (1999), the latter of which she received nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She also starred in the TV movies "Who Will Love My Children?" (1983) and a remake of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1984). These performances collectively won her two Golden Globe Awards and two Emmy nominations.

ROGER SMITH

AS PLAYED BY:
Ed Helms

From Wikipedia:
Roger LaVerne Smith (born December 18, 1932) is an American television and film actor and screenwriter. He starred in the television detective series '77 Sunset Strip' [as Jeff Spencer]. He is married to the actress Ann-Margret.

Smith appeared in 74 episodes of this Warner Bros.-produced series but left the popular ABC program in 1962 because of a blood clot in his brain. His health continued to decline for some time, and he was forced to retire from acting after Myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, was diagnosed in 1965. His condition went into remission in 1985. Following his retirement from performing, he managed his wife Ann-Margret's career and produced her popular Las Vegas stage shows.

Smith appeared very rarely on television once his health deteriorated, but did participate on 'This is Your Life' when host Ralph Edwards devoted an episode to Ann-Margret.

His character of Jeff Spencer is a candidate for membership in the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame:

'77 Sunset Strip' (1958–1963) .... Jeff Spencer
'Hawaiian Eye': "I Wed Three Wives" (1960) .... Jeff Spencer
'Surfside 6': "Love Song for a Deadly Redhead" (1962) .... Jeff Spencer

BCnU!

THE SUPER SIX LIST: MEETING YOUR "MAKER"

Because of the news about Donald Trump dropping out of the 2012 Presidential race, and the appearance by the real Lindsey Buckingham on this past week's edition of 'Saturday Night Live', I came up with this Super Six List......

SIX CELEBRITY IMPERSONATORS WHO MET THE REAL VERSIONS

ON 'SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE'

1] MARK ZUCKERBERG
When Jesse Eisenberg, who played Zuckerberg in the movie "The Social Network", hosted 'Saturday Night Live', Zuckerberg left the backstage area where he had been watching with Lorne Michaels to "confront" the actor on stage. Then we got a triple play when they were joined by Andy Samberg as his televersion of Zuckerberg.

2] LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM
Every time SNL does the sketch about the BET show "What's Up With That?", they always have two celebrities playing themselves as the guests with Bill Hader as Buckingham for the third guest. Whether the other celebrities ever get to say something or not, Hader's Buckingham has never had the chance to say even one word. But this week, even as Hader sat there on the panel with musical guest Paul Simon and Chris Colfer of 'Glee', the real Buckingham came out and jammed during the "What's Up With That" continuous theme song.

And even after all of that, Hader's televersion still didn't get to speak!

3] JANET RENO
As Will Ferrell ran out the clock on his tenure with 'Saturday Night Live', he appeared one last time as former Attorney General Janet Reno, hosting "Janet Reno's House Party." But suddenly the wall caved in behind him and out stepped the League of Themselves member to confront him about his portrayal. And fashion disaster alert - they both wore the same dress!

4] ALEX TREBEK
In a similar fashion, Ferrell hosted one last installment of "Celebrity Jeopardy" (at least until he came back to host) as the game show host, only to be confronted by Trebek as well. I think if Trebek was really bleeped off about anything to do with the portrayal, it would have been the fact that Ferrell never put any effort into the impression.

Real Alex Trebek: And so this was Final Jeopardy. And what a ride it has been, from Burt Reynolds to Minnie Driver, but boy, oh boy, those celebrities did not know the right answers to any of your questions.

Alex Trebek: No, they did not. They were very stupid.

Real Alex Trebek: You got that right.

Sean Connery: Well, well, two Trebeks. I feel like I'm in a Raisin Bran commercial: "two scoops of fruit".

Real Alex Trebek: Back off, Connery. I don't have to take that from you.

Sean Connery: I guess it's true, old married couples do start to look alike.

Alex Trebek: Okay, please. From all of us to all of you, good night.

Real Alex Trebek: Good night.

5] MICHAEL J. FOX
With these last two entries, there was a slight variation. When Michael J. Fox hosted SNL, there was a great sketch called "America's Most Wanted: Former Child Stars". Fox played Danny Bonaduce while David Spade imitated him, which he had done several times in the past. If you get the chance to see the sketch, you'll notice Fox has a hard time keeping a straight face as Spade goes through his histrionics after being shot. "Mallory......!"

6] DONALD TRUMP
Last and certainly least, Donald Trump played a simple man who was a Donald Trump look-alike in a take-off on Mark Twain's "The Prince And The Pauper", with Darrell Hammond once again playing the Hair. (Two weeks ago, Hammond returned to SNL one more time in order to play Trump in an "Undeclared Republican Candidates Debate".)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DONALD TRUMP

DONALD TRUMP

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Darrell Hammond

TV DIMENSION:
Skitlandia

STATUS:
Recastaway

From CBS News
(by Brian Montopoli):
Donald Trump ended his months-long public flirtation with a 2012 presidential run Monday, saying that he will not seek the Republican nomination -- even though he could have won the election.

"After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency," Trump said in a statement. "This decision does not come easily or without regret; especially when my potential candidacy continues to be validated by ranking at the top of the Republican contenders in polls across the country. I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election. I have spent the past several months unofficially campaigning and recognize that running for public office cannot be done half heartedly. Ultimately, however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector."

Trump made the announcement as NBC, the television network that runs his reality show, announced its fall lineup of shows. Prior to the announcement, NBC said it would bring back the show, "The Celebrity Apprentice," with a different host if Trump ran.

In his statement, Trump thanked the "millions" who encouraged him to run and promised to "continue to voice my opinions loudly and help to shape our politician's thoughts."

"My ability to bring important economic and foreign policy issues to the forefront of the national dialogue is perhaps my greatest asset and one of the most valuable services I can provide to this country," he said. "I will continue to push our President and the country's policy makers to address the dire challenges arising from our unsustainable debt structure and increasing lack of global competitiveness."

"I will not shy away from expressing the opinions that so many of you share yet don't have a medium through which to articulate," added Trump, who has a regular guest spot on Fox News.

What a douchebag. I don't care if he is a member of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame. I think even fellow Hall member Elmo could have beaten him. Hell, I'd have voted for Elmo over Trump and I hate Elmo!

From The Daily Kos:
If you want to get an idea of how bad Donald Trump's political standing was by the end of his abortive run for President consider this- a national poll we conducted last week found that he would trail Dennis Kucinich 40-36 in a hypothetical contest.

As for those "millions" (I didn't add the original quotation marks.) who encouraged him to run, Andy Borowicz was right - they were the comedians who saw fresh material in his campaign.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: LAWRENCE WELK

Lawrence Welk died on this date in 1992. He was 89. I think when they performed the autopsy, they found a song in his heart.....

LAWRENCE WELK

AS SEEN ON:
'The Lawrence Welk Show'

AS PLAYED BY:
Himself

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

From Wikipedia:
Lawrence Welk (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992) was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982. His style came to be known to his large number of radio, television, and live-performance fans (and critics) as "champagne music."

LAWRENCE WELK

AS SEEN ON:
'Saturday Night Live'

AS PLAYED BY:
Fred Armisen

TV DIMENSION:
Skitlandia

 BCnU!

WELCOME TO THE PROMOVERSE!

TINA FEY'S ALIEN FETUS
BENZOLATING ITS F'RVAAN

One of the tiniest of the major TV dimensions is that of the Promoverse. In this world, the TV characters we know from various shows appear in quick interstitials, sometimes in concert with characters from other shows.

This would be a dream for crossoverists, but too many problems - not exactly Zonks - crop up, which put them at odds with how they're portrayed in their home shows.

Such problems include serlinguism (talking directly to the Trueniverse audience), tele-cognizance (an awareness of being a TV character), and inter-action with characters from the lesser, parallel dimensions (those dimensions which are off-shoots of the major TV dimensions). The home dimension of Earth Prime-Time has all of these off-shoots, primarily the "Evil Mirror Universe" but also all of the parallel worlds from 'Sliders'.)

USA Network has had the most success in populating the Promoverse, with blipverts that combined 'Monk' with 'Psych', 'The 4400', and 'The Dead Zone' (a series that shifted its focus from the John Smith of Earth Prime-Time to that of John Smith who lived on a Toobworld that had a different President than the one for Earth Prime-Time and the Trueniverse.

Lately USA has also been mixing and matching between 'Psych', 'White Collar', 'Burn Notice' and 'Royal Pains'.

Here are a couple of examples of the residents of the Promoverse, displaying some of the qualities mentioned above:

The Promoverse also accommodates members of the League of Themselves, and as could happen in Skitlandia (mostly - but also in the main Toobworld), there could be major differences with their alternate TV counterparts.

For example, here's a serlinguistic Tina Fey revealing that she has been impregnated with alien seed during her sked alert about hosting 'Saturday Night Live'.

By the way, 'Saturday Night Live' as a whole is not part of Skitlandia; only the individual sketches are. 'SNL' is a TV show within the TV Universe as it is in the Trueniverse.

In real life, Tina Fey is married to Jeff Richmond. I don't see any reason why she shouldn't be married to him in the Promoverse as well. But he's an alien who has always been disguised as Jeff Richmond, or only recently replaced Jeff Richmond in Tina's life. Since she seems happy about carrying this alien hybrid spawn, I'm guessing the former - and she's okay with that.

Ecce Promo!

AS SEEN ON TV: BOB DYLAN

BOB DYLAN

AS SEEN IN:
'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'

AS PLAYED BY:
Jimmy Fallon

TV DIMENSION:
Skitlandia

As this took place in the sketch comedy TV dimension, there's no need to worry about a Zonk when it comes to the song choice of "Dylan". As a matter of fact, since the TV show was not mentioned, 'Charles In Charge' could just be the subject of the song. It could just as easily have been about Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts in charge.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: THE ROYAL WEDDING OF WILLS & KATE

From ABC News: 

Kate Middleton, best man Prince Harry and the bridesmaids gathered at Westminster Abbey [Thursday] morning for one last rehearsal before Friday's royal wedding at which her brother, James, will deliver the only reading.