Saturday, November 18, 2006

MISSING LINKS: 'MONK' & 'HEROES'

Jack Monk, the father of Adrian 'Monk', lives in Midland, Texas, with his third son, Jack Monk, Jr.

As a trucker, he's likely had quite a few meals at the Burnt Toast Diner, which we saw this past week in 'Heroes'. It's the diner where Charlie (aka "Google Girl") worked and where she met Hiro and Ando.

Since this week's episode of 'Monk' was a special holiday edition geared towards the Christmas season (and probably for the Christmas of 2006), and since Hiro has now gone back in Time in order to save Charlie from her fate, we could make a Missing Link between the shows.

Should we ever see a rig parked outside the Burnt Toast Diner, we can make the assumption that it's another truck that Jack Monk is driving. And to allay any questions as to why we don't see Jack Monk? Maybe he's in the men's room during that particular scene.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

ACE OF ZONKS

Ed DeLine and his daughter were tracking the thieves who robbed the Montecito's safe deposit boxes through the 'Las Vegas' sewer when Delinda observed that it was just like being Mulder and Scully.

When her father asked "Who?", she shrugged it off as not being important.

Ed DeLine is a powerful man with many influential contacts in the government, and his daughter knows this. Delinda didn't want to embarrass him that she knew of a couple of FBI agents who had some notoriety; agents whom Big Ed should have known about. Like John F. Byers of 'The Lone Gunmen' said about Mulder in an episode of 'The X-Files': "Mulder's too high profile. He's virtually a household name to the black ops who kidnapped Susanne in Baltimore."

So Delinda dropped the subject, rather than embarrass Daddy.

And how did Delinda know about Mulder and Scully? It could be that she met and befriended Dana Scully when she was in Las Vegas. We don't see everything that happens in an episode of any show. There are a lot of blanks to be filled in.

So it's entirely possible that Delinda met Dana while the agent was helping out Langly, Byers, and Frohike on a case in Vegas. (They tricked her into coming, even though it was likely she would be kicking their asses when she found out the ruse.) And Dana may have opened up to Delinda about her relationship with Mulder......

(That episode of 'The X-Files' - "Three Of A Kind" - was at some casino which was hosting the annual Def-Con, a convention for defense contractors. It's always pozz'ble, jes' poss'ble, that in 1999 it was held at the Montecito.)

And all of this in an episode that marked yet another crossover with 'Crossing Jordan', even with the Boston forensics mystery series still not returned from the summer hiatus.

And since Jordan is still on the run, when it does return it will have to be considered as being set in the past. This crossover can't officially take place until that storyline is wrapped up.

Unless of course, this 'Las Vegas' episode took place in between episodes of last season's 'Crossing Jordan', before she was accused of killing an old boyfriend.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"Hello, Mulder? Can you hear me? I'm at the hotel. Where are you?
What do you mean, 'what hotel', Las Vegas. I'm in Las Vegas, aren't you?
You called me. What do you mean you didn't call me?
Oh man, I am going to kick their asses
."
FBI Agent Dana Scully
'The X-Files'

THE HAT SQUAD: RUTH BROWN

Singer Ruth Brown, whose recordings of "Teardrops in My Eyes," "5-10-15 Hours" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" shot her to rhythm-and-blues stardom in the 1950s, has died. She was 78.

Brown, who later in life won a Grammy and a Tony, died Friday of complications from a stroke and heart attack at a Las Vegas-area hospital, said Lindajo Loftus, a publicist for the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, which Brown helped establish.

"Ruth was one of the most important and beloved figures in modern music," singer Bonnie Raitt said in a statement. "You can hear her influence in everyone from Little Richard to Etta (James), Aretha (Franklin), Janis (Joplin) and divas like Christina Aguilera today."

She later crossed over into rock 'n' roll with some success with "Lucky Lips" and "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'," a song she co-wrote with Bobby Darin.

But as R&B and rock 'n' roll fell out of style in the late 1950s, Brown and her musical contemporaries were forced into retirement. She spent most of the 1960s raising her two sons alone and earning a living as a maid, school bus driver and teacher.

Brown enjoyed a career renaissance in the mid-70s when she began recording blues and jazz tunes for a variety of labels and found success on the stage and in movies.

She won acclaim in the R&B musical "Staggerlee" and won a Tony Award for best actress in the Broadway revue "Black and Blue."

She also played a feisty deejay in the 1988 cult movie "Hairspray." A year later, she won a Grammy for best jazz vocal performance for the album "Blues on Broadway."

Brown continued to perform and record in her later years, becoming a popular host of National Public Radio's "Harlem Hit Parade."

TV SERIES
"Checking In" (1981) TV Series .... Betty

TV SPECIALS
Shake, Rattle and Rock! (1994) (TV) .... Ella
Black and Blue (1993) (TV)

TELE-PLAYS
"American Playhouse"
- Hallelujah (1993) TV Episode .... Mrs. Sherman

TV GUEST APPEARANCES
"The Jeffersons" .... Betty (1 episode, 1981)
- Florence's New Job: Part 2 (1981) TV Episode .... Betty
"Hello, Larry"
- Rap with Ruthie (1979) TV Episode .... Leona
- Leona, the New Neighbor (1979) TV Episode .... Leona Wilson


THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES
B.B. King: The Blues Summit (1995) (TV) .... Herself
The History of Rock 'N' Roll, Vol. 1 (1995) (TV) .... Herself
Abbey Lincoln: You Gotta Pay the Band (1993) (TV) .... Herself
"Great Performances": 'Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall' .... Herself


BCnU.....
Tele-Toby

Friday, November 17, 2006

ON A CLEAR DAY, CAN CATALINA SEE YOU?

My thanks to TVSquad.com reader RVKey for this info re: last night's super-sized 'My Name Is Earl':

"When Catalina was in claymation dusting the table she was saying (in Spanish) that originally the scene was supposed to be her taking her head off and dusting the table with her hair but that claymation was expensive so you'd only get to see her dance."

Catalina has spoken to the audience before in Spanish, which means only one thing: She's tele-cognizant; she KNOWS she's living in a TV Universe!

As such, she joins such Toobworld characters as Captain Kirk, Lt. Columbo, and David Addison.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

PRODUCT UNBECOMING 2: "30 ROCK"

So, following up 'The Office' and its Staples plug during the show, '30 Rock' does it again. This time for Snapple, made from the best stuff on Earth. (oops, that'd be a plug, wouldn't it?)

They were going for the post-ironic, self-referential vibe with the running gag, and they even talked about it as such. Being a show that takes place behind the scenes in the very building who employs them, there's going to be plenty of this cropping in the scripts.

And it all would have worked - look at us! GE wants us to sell out, and instead we're selling out to Snapple in the episode! - if it hadn't been for that Snapple blipvert that filled our screens as soon as the first scene was over.

Wasn't the mention in the show enough to get the 30 pieces of silver from Snapple, Peacock? Soon as your greed allowed the commercial to air, all of the goodwill from the self-mocking went sailing off the roof of 30 Rock - along with Frank's clothing....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

PRODUCT UNBECOMING: "THE OFFICE"

'The Office' had one of the most blatant product placements within the script of an episode since the trivection oven made its debut in the season premiere of '30 Rock'. (That wasn't so surprising since both are good little soldiers in the GE Army.)

Kevin was practically salivating as he demonstrated the marvels of the Staples shredder. It was handled pretty well; it was even subversively funny. And had that been the end of it, I would have grudgingly been okay with it. (I much prefer fictional products in Toobworld.)

But nooooooo! The scene was practically shoved out of the way to make way for an actual blipvert for the damn shredder. And that always leaves a bad aftertaste. Happened with the oven on '30 Rock'; happened with the car on 'Monk'.

But like I said, the writers for 'The Office' were a bit subversive in presenting the shredder within their script. (And I would not be surprised if they were forced to include it - everybody knows NBC needs the cash.)

At the end of the episode, they showed Kevin using the shredder to make a salad, using the disposal basket as his salad bowl. At least he gave credit where it was due - when asked where he got the salad, he said, "Staples".

Of course, the writers laid the groundwork for anti-Staples sentiment in the audience the week before. Josh bolted the Dunder-Mifflin Stamford branch, using his new job position to trade up to a better job - at Staples.

Jim made it clear that a decent person wouldn't do that; and by implicaton, he was suggesting that Staples was the enemy camp.

Not sure hardcore 'Office' fanatics will want to shop at Staples after that....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

THE HAT SQUAD: BELINDA EMMETT

Australian actress Belinda Emmett, who starred as Rebecca Fisher in 'Home and Away', has died after battling cancer.

The 32-year-old was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 and left the soap opera while undergoing treatment. She died in a Sydney hospital on Saturday surrounded by her family, including talk show host Rove McManus, whom she married last year.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard led tributes to the actress, saying: "She fought a very courageous battle".

Emmett's diagnosis came at the height of her fame in Australia. She went into remission following surgery to remove a malignant tumour and a course of radiotherapy in 1998. She returned to television, playing nurse Jodi Horner in the Australian TV drama 'All Saints', but was diagnosed with secondary bone cancer in 2001.

Emmett's last television appearance was with husband McManus on an ABC television 'Christmas Special', in December 2005. McManus posted a message on his website telling fans he was too distraught to return to his celebrity chat show for the time being.

TV SERIES
"Home and Away" (1988) TV Series .... Nash (#3) (1996-1999, 2005) / Rebecca Fisher

RECURRING ROLES
"All Saints" .... Jodi Horner (2000-2001)
"Hey Dad..!" .... Tracy (1994)

THE LEAGUE OF THEMSELVES
"Spicks and Specks" .... Herself (1 episode, 2005)
- A Very Specky Christmas
"All Time Greatest Bloopers" (1998) TV Series .... Herself - Host

BCnU.....
Tele-Toby

THE HAT SQUAD: DIANA COUPLAND

Actress Diana Coupland, best known for her role in the 1970s sitcom 'Bless This House', has died in hospital aged 74.

The comedy actress died at Coventry's University Hospital, after she failed to recuperate from surgery to resolve long-term heart problems.

Coupland more recently played roles in 'EastEnders', 'Casualty', and 'Doctors'.

It was her role in 'Bless This House' that brought her television fame. She continued to work solidly through the 1980s, and was featured in such shows as 'Juliet Bravo' and 'Triangle', the series set on a North Sea ferry.

TV SERIES
"EastEnders" (1985) TV Series .... Auntie Maureen Carter (2000)
"High and Dry" (1987) TV Series .... Mrs. Briggs
"Bless This House" .... Jean Abbott (1971-1973)
"A Little Big Business" (1963) TV Series .... Naomi Lieberman

TV MOVIES
The Likes of Sykes (1980) (TV)
Rebel in the Grave (1968) (TV) .... Mrs. Hammond
And Did Those Feet (1965) (TV) .... Maggie

TV MINI-SERIES
"A Raging Calm" (1974) (mini) TV Series .... Norma Moffat

AS SEEN ON TV
"Dickens of London" (1976) (mini) TV Series .... Mrs. Catherine Dickens

TELE-PLAYS
"Half Hour Story" .... Gwen (1 episode, 1968)
- The Pub Fighter
"Thirty-Minute Theatre" (2 episodes, 1966-1967)
- The Isle Is Full of Noises (1967)
- The Spoken Word (1966)
"The Wednesday Play"
- The Big Man Coughed and Died (1966) TV Episode .... Mona Summers
"Play of the Month"
- Make Me an Offer (1966) TV Episode

GUEST APPEARANCES
"Rose and Maloney" .... Anna Roche (1 episode, 2005)
- Episode #2.3
"Casualty" .... Lily Thirlwell (1 episode, 2004)
- Love Bites
"Doctors" .... Hilda (1 episode, 2002)
- Happy Days Are Here Again
"One Foot in the Grave" .... Meg (1 episode, 1992)
- Monday Morning Will Be Fine
"Juliet Bravo" .... Audrey Clark (1 episode, 1983)
- Off Duty
"Triangle" .... Marion Terson (1 episode, 1981-1982)
- Episode #2.1
"The Wilde Alliance" .... Cora (1 episode, 1978)
- Time and Again
"Z Cars" .... Fay Benn / Mrs. Benson / Alice Cottrell / Ethel Roberts / Hilda Laker / Lily Stiles / Mrs. Keston
- Intrusion: Part 2 (1971) TV Episode .... Mrs. Benson
- Intrusion: Part 1 (1971) TV Episode .... Mrs. Benson
- The Placer: Part 2 (1967) TV Episode .... Fay Benn
- The Placer: Part 1 (1967) TV Episode .... Fay Benn
- In a Day's Work (1964) TV Episode .... Mrs. Keston
"Please Sir!" .... Connie Eversleigh (1 episode, 1969)
- The Decent Thing
"Rogues' Gallery" .... Mrs. Fairweather (1 episode, 1969)
- The Fearful Image
"Softly Softly" .... Mae / Mae Martin (2 episodes, 1966-1968)
- Bird of Passage (1968)
- All That Glitters (1966
"Dixon of Dock Green" .... Norma Parker / Ruby Fisher (2 episodes, 1964-1966)
- S for Squealer (1966) TV Episode .... Ruby Fisher
- Fair Means or Foul TV Episode .... Norma Parker
"Redcap" .... Iris Pearson (1 episode, 1965)
- Misfire
"Cluff" .... Lucy Heathercote (1 episode, 1965)
- The Village Constable
"Maigret" (1 episode, 1963)
- The Cellars of the Majestic (1963) TV Episode


BCnU.....
Tele-Toby

Thursday, November 16, 2006

HAILING "TAXI", BY THE "NUMB3RS"

I come up with splainins all the time as to how different characters played by the same actor within the same show can look so identical. It's usually due to plastic surgery, shapeshifters, or a case of identical cousins. My personal favorite is that of identical half-brothers whose father played around; that sort of thing.

Unless it's otherwise stated within shows, however, I think that for the most part these characters who resemble each other must have something about them that differentiates them in the eyes of other TV characters.

Otherwise, wouldn't have Lt. Columbo noticed that there were three murderers who looked like the late Jack Cassidy; three killers (and the father of another) who all resembled Robert Culp; not to mention all those fussy little men running around Los Angeles who could be copies of Vito Scotti?

At least all four murderers played by Patrick McGoohan had something different about their looks so that they didn't resemble one another.

Character actors like Morgan Shepherd and Jack Elam revisited the Ponderosa several times over the years. They couldn't all have been the same guy given a new identity by Fabian Lavendor.

And Cabot Cove, Maine, is too small a town for some people to keep showing up with the same face without JB Fletcher noticing.

Perhaps it's some kind of aura, more likely something physical about their appearance, that sets them apart from those characters played by that same actor in the past. We just can't see it.

This would splain why Don and Charlie Eppes could watch 'Taxi' on TV and not marvel over the amazing resemblance between the cabbie Alex Rieger and their own father... even if a quarter of a century now separated the two in looks. Alex would still look like Alan Eppes in old family photos.

As for why 'Taxi' exists in Toobworld as a TV show as far as 'Numb3rs' is concerned, here's my splainin:

The Brothers Eppes were watching one of the very first reality shows about the inner workings of a business in New York City, in much the same way that there's a reality series about a southwestern airline running today. That version of 'Taxi' (perhaps inspired by the Harry Chapin song) focused their cameras on the Sunshine Cab Company to document what life was like for these cabbies.

So what we saw as a fictional comedy series here in the Trueniverse played out on TV screens in Toobworld as factual documentary programming.

(I didn't see that 'Numb3rs' episode. Did we hear a laugh-track? If so, easy splainin: post-production technical error.)

[Thanks to TVGal Amy and her readers Carl and Patty for the tip.]

Shows cited:
'Taxi'
'Numb3rs'
'Columbo'
'Bonanza'/'Ponderosa'
'The Wild, Wild West
'Murder, She Wrote'
'Airline'

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

TONIGHT IN TOOBWORLD....

Here's a preview listing from TVaholic:

Smallville (The CW): New. Clark heads for my hometown of Seattle after a Zoner attacks a ship’s crew.

'Smallville' takes place in an alternate dimension from that of the main Toobworld. It's the same dimension in which we'd find 'The West Wing' and 'Mr. Sterling'.

But wouldn't it be cool if there were mentions of Seattle Grace Hospital ('Grey's Anatomy') and radio station KCAL ('Frasier') while Clark is there?

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

AARDVERTS

An old, probably forgotten, cartoon series from 1966 could serve as the ancestor to a commercial that's currently airing.

Triaminic is hawking their Thin Strips to clear up congestion with a cartoon utilizing primitive animation (paper cut-out style somewhat similar to 'South Park').

In the blipvert, a young aardvark is having trouble snorfling up the ants because of his congestion. After Mama Aardvark gives him a Triaminic Thin Strip, he is able to vacuum up the ants with ease and get a good day's lunch out of it.

As the coloring of the aardvarks is somewhat bluish (Funny, they don't look bluish.), it's not hard to imagine that they're related to the Aardvark from "The Ant And The Aardvark" series of cartoons that eventually ran as part of 'The New Pink Panther Show'.

In these cartoons, the Aardvark never caught a break in his attempts to eat this one particular ant who sounded like Dean Martin. (According to Jeff Lenburg's "Encyclopedia Of Animated Cartoon Series", Jackie Mason provided the voice for the Aardvark and it is pure Jackie in delivery.)

Had this been live action, I would have done the research into how long an Aardvark lives; to determine how many generations separate Big Blue from the Triaminic Tyke. However, since they all exist in the Tooniverse, Time has no meaning there. After all, this is a dimension where Bart Simpson was born in 1984, and is still just a little kid.

So the Aardvark is still alive, with a voice similar to Rabbi Krustofsky, and probably the grandfather to the little guy - who's obviously more successful at getting an ant sandwich than Grandpa.

The difference in animation is irrelevant. Those are just artistic interpretations of life in the Tooniverse and is not noticeable to the inhabitants. (Examples: 'King Of The Hill' and 'The Critic' visiting 'The Simpsons', an unnamed Bart Simpson on 'South Park', the 'Jimmy Neutron'/'Fairly Odd Parents' crossover.)

And don't feel bad for the ants. Never could understand how we can root for ants and mice in cartoons and yet kill them as vermin in real life.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

MORE B5 B4 LONG!

Here's the relevant (for Toobworld) tidbits from the official press release for the latest additions to the mythos of 'Babylon 5':

BABLYON 5: THE LOST TALES TO BEGIN PRODUCTION
NOVEMBER 13, 2006

BURBANK, CA, November 13, 2006 – Warner Home Video (WHV) and Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) have announced the start of production of “Babylon 5: The Lost Tales,” a made-for-video movie that will be targeted towards the 'Babylon 5' loyal audience and science-fiction fans in general .

The announcement was jointly made by Jeff Brown, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Non-theatrical Franchise, Warner Home Video and Gregg Maday, Senior Vice President, Movies and Miniseries, WBTV. WHV will be the home entertainment distributor for this made-for-DVD release which will include two new Babylon 5 stories collectively entitled “Voices of the Dark” in one film plus exclusive behind the scenes content.

The stories will be written and directed by executive producer and original “Babylon 5” creator J. Michael Straczynski. Executive producer Doug Netter also returns in that role. Actors from the original series that have signed on to participate in the project include Bruce Boxleitner (“President John Sheridan”), Tracy Scoggins (“Captain Elizabeth Lochley”) and Peter Woodward (“Galen”).

After its original planned five-year run – introducing the concept of a five year arc before other TV series began to use multi-season arcs -- the show... spurred the creation of five feature length movies based on the series including "The Gathering", "In the Beginning", "Thirdspace", "River of Souls" and "A Call to Arms", as well as the limited series 'Crusade'.

On an immense space station built by the Earth Alliance in the 2250s, the crew of Babylon 5 are charged with maintaining the peace among the various alien races by providing a sanctuary where grievances and negotiations can be worked out among duly appointed ambassadors. Aside from its diplomatic function, Babylon 5 also serves as a military post for Earth and a port of call for travelers, traders, businessmen, criminals, and Rangers.

The story of The Lost Tales picks up several years after the events of its original story, and follows several of its major characters in new adventures set against the backdrop of the Babylon 5 universe.

In addition, JMS has indicated that during these mini-movies, he will be paying tribute to the memories of actor Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs, both of whom passed away since the series ended.

His exact quote is: "I also managed to work in a nice nod to Andreas and Richard in the two mini-movies."

So that doesn't necessarily mean that the characters have to be considered dead as well. I'd like to think that G'Kar especially, who became the soul for the series, is still alive out there. And if those visions of the future from the series were any indication, he must be.

I've always been torn as to whether or not 'Babylon 5' should be in the main Toobworld or not. A lot of the series might be considered at odds with Toobworld "facts" laid down by 'Star Trek', which got there first and has been so dominant over the TV landscape for the last forty years.

But with effort, a lot of that can be reconciled. However, being the lazy bleep that I am, I haven't done much of that lately.

I guess I'm not a very fastidious caretaker for the TV Universe....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

HIRO, SCRUBBED

Kristin from E! Online had this scoop:

Earlier this morning, I pried an awesome tidbit out of Bill Lawrence: Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura on 'Heroes') has long had a recurring role on Scrubs as Franklyn, a worker in the blood lab. The 'Scrubs' producers want to bring him back this season, but with his powers from 'Heroes' intact! That, my friends, is two great tastes that taste great together.

It's a cute idea, but I hope they do more with it than just have Franklyn do the same things that Hiro can. I'm sure NBC would love for the shows to be actually linked so that 'Scrubs' can get as much promotional power as it can from such a crossover. ('Heroes' has overtaken 'Ugly Betty' for the biggest hit among the new shows.)

And thanks to his super-powers of bending time, Hiro could actually BE Franklyn! And thus, even though we met Franklyn first in the five episodes he's done so far on 'Scrubs', it is Hiro that first appears in the Toobworld timeline.

Once he has mastered the English language, his future self could go back in Time and work undercover at Sacred Heart. (That's the name of the hospital, right?)

As Franklyn works in the blood lab, he could be there researching how the genetic alterations in the blood are happening which can create super-powered people all over the world.

That's the way I'd go with it, but I'm not Bill Lawrence. So what he says, goes.

If they don't make that connection, I hope his re-appearance on the show can leave well enough alone. Just make a general in-joke and leave it at that. Don't get too specific in making reference to 'Heroes', and be general enough so that I can step in and make it compatible with Toobworld.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

LINKS TO THE LEFT UPDATE

I've added three more links to the gumbo so that Toobworld visitors might have more places to explore regarding the TV Universe.

JAM! TELEVISION
This is a news site from Canada. Sometimes I find stories here not covered elsewhere south of the border.

TV RULES
The focus is more on reality shows, much like TVgasm, but they do cover shows like 'Lost' and 'Heroes'.

ARCHIVE OF FICTIONAL THINGS (from Answers.com)
A companion piece for the Wikipedia archive of fictional items. Probably of more use for fanficcers. (I'm an enabler, I guess.)

Check them out if you have a mind to.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

BAYLISS WATCH

I'm WAYYY behind on watching my tapes from last week. Since I needed something to keep me awake all day, I decided to watch the shows I selected LAST Tuesday once I got back from work this morning. Which only made sense if I wanted to finally get around to watching the shows I picked This Tuesday.

So I had chosen 'Stand-Off' as the lead-in last week, only because there was nothing else on of any interest in that eight o'clock hour. Which isn't much in the way of a recommendation for the show.

But it was a serendipitous choice, as it gave me this great Toobworld tidbit:

The FBI teamed up with the LAPD in order to bring an end to the 30-year career of a legendary serial sniper who called himself GLA. The detective in charge of the LAPD's contribution to the task force was Captain Timothy Bayliss.

"Tim Bayliss" was also the name of a detective who worked the Homicided division in the Baltimore, Maryland, police department (as seen on 'Homicide: Life On The Street').

They weren't meant to be the same character; even with the excuse of recasting, that would be o'bvious. There was a definite end to the career of Tim Bayliss in the 'H:LOTS' reunion movie, when he was arrested for committing a murder. So there's no possible way he just packed up and moved to LA and became a captain out there.

Which, in a way, is good news, since this Tim Bayliss came to a bad end during the 'Stand-Off' episode. At least there's hope for redemption and a chance to revisit Kyle Secor's Tim Bayliss someday on some other show. (Perhaps on 'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'? After all, his old partner in the Waterfront bar, John Munch, is now working on that show.)

Anyway, there should be a Toobworld splainin as to why two police detectives on opposite sides of the country should have the same name. And I believe they must be related.

It could be that they're cousins. It's not uncommon for the same name to crop up in families. I have two first cousins by the name of Peter; although, granted, they have different surnames.

These two Tim Baylisses (Bayliss's? Baylissii?) could be first cousins. Their fathers would be brothers to each other, and both of them wanted to honor their father (if his name was Timothy) by naming their sons after him. If so, perhaps they agreed to give the boys different middle names to differentiate them. And as they appear to have been raised on opposite sides of the country, it didn't seem like there would ever be much confusion over the matter save at the occasional family reunion.

Of course, if this is true, it's possible that the father of Timothy Bayliss, LA version, could have been the uncle of Tim Bayliss of Baltimore who abused him as a child (as revealed in an episode of 'H:LOTS' in season three).

This theory about the two detectives named Timothy Bayliss is the easy splainin. And Toobworld is on a simplifyin' kick But there's another splainin that has a dark attraction to it.

They're half brothers.

In this splainin, Papa Bayliss was a rolling stone. (Not to be confused with Inspector Mike Stone of 'The Streets Of San Francisco. And he couldn't have been the sire of the Bayliss boys anyway, even if they turned out to be cops as well. After all, a guy with a proboscis like Karl Malden's isn't going to turn out a couple of guys with straight beezers like Kyle Secor and Todd Tesen!)

As a travellin' man, Bayliss Senior may have had more than a mistress; he could have been a bigamist, with a family on both coasts. And both of his wives would have given birth to a son whom they felt compelled to name after the father. (Again, the father may have agreed to this, but insisted on different middle names - just in case of any possiblie complications in the future. Not that he would have been aware of this, but the Fates in the TV Universe love to have such complications come back to haunt characters. You just have to watch a few soap operas to see that!)

So, it's pozz'ble, jes' pozz'ble, that Tim Bayliss of 'Homicide: Life On The Street' and Timothy Bayliss (He seemed to prefer the full name.) of that one episode of 'Stand-Off' could be half brothers, or just first cousins.

And if there is power in names, they were fated to grow up and become police detectives. However, both of them came to bad ends - one arrested for murder, and the other murdered by a sniper.

Such are the Fates in Toobworld.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

ps:
Here's an interesting
interview with Kyle Secor on the sexuality of his character Tim Bayliss.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

NEW @ TOOBWORLD CENTRAL

Decided to toss a C-note towards expanding the Toobworld Central DVD library today.....

"Taxi" - The Complete First Season
There never was an introduction like the first full sighting we had of Louie dePalma!

"Columbo" - The Complete Sixth & Seventh Seasons in one collection
Contains my second favorite episode, "Try And Catch Me". But I could have sworn that "Identity Crisis" and "Double Negative" were sixth seasoners.....

"Jonathan Winters: Rare & Riotous"
One of my comedy idols, right up there with Red Skelton, in excerpts from a Jack Paar interview, "The Chevy Show", and even a PSA.

"Gang Busters"
Six episodes of the hoary old cop show; looks to be "turnerized"..

"The World Of Oz"
Four of the silent movies about the L. Frank Baum classic: "The Wizard Of Oz"
"His Majesty, The Scarecrow Of Oz"
"The Patchwork Girl Of Oz"
"The Magic Cloak Of Oz"

And I brought all of that in with twenty bucks to spare.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

SON OF THAT DARN ZONKIN' SORKIN

"Good for you, Matlock."
Judge Beebe
'Studio 60'

With the other Zonk in "Nevada Day, Part Two" (Yawn! "Pahrump" would have been a better name for the episode!), we got an echo from last week's 'Supernatural'.

The same reasoning I used for their episode of "The Usual Suspects" applies in this reference. Ben Matlock is a nationally known lawyer on a par with F. Lee Bailey and Gerry Spence in our world. And that Judge Beebe and the NBC copyright lawyer would know of him seems to be an o'bvious given.

But the fact that Sorkin chose to use the name of "Matlock" as an insult towards the NBS lawyer seems - to me, at least, - to illustrate that all of Sorkin's characters share his voice and views in some respect.

Sorkin didn't write the jibe in the Toobworld sense - that 'Matlock' is a real person. No, he didn't care about preserving any illusion that other shows outside of the 'Studio 60' bailiwick might be just as real. He wrote it as a reality-busting Zonk.

As such, he's basically showing his prejudice against 'Matlock', the series. But would Judge Beebe have felt the same way? Whether he knew Matlock as a man or as a TV series, I think Beebe would have recognized Ben Matlock as a man of the people; certainly not the way he viewed the NBC lawyer.

Again, whether it was as a TV show or as the nationally known lawyer, I'm thinking Judge Beebe would more likely hurl the name of "Perry Mason" as an invective against a Los Angeles lawyer. Still a lawyer nationally known, perhaps the best of all time. And by comparing the NBC lawyer to "Perry Mason", he'd be telling the suit that he would never be the equal of Mason.... even if he was fictional.

Maybe I am over-analyzing. But then, that's just me.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

THAT DARN ZONKIN' SORKIN

We had a couple of Zonks courtesy of Aaron Sorkin in this week's conclusion of a 'Studio 60' two-parter.

First up:

"We're in the middle of an episode of 'Walker, Texas Ranger'."
Danny Tripp


Unlike all those pop culture references from last week's 'Supernatural', Sorkin left no wiggle room with the mention of the Chuck Norris show. He had to beat the audience over the head with the fact that 'Walker, Texas Ranger' IS A TV SHOW!!!!

This thing is, I don't think he was insulting the middle of the road, heartland America audience - as he seems to be doing with every other aspect of 'Studio 60'.

No, this time I think he didn't believe his dream audience of "intelligentsia" and the "cognoscentii" have never even heard of the martial arts Western before.

So, this is basically a true Zonk. We can only assume that some TV network decided to buy the rights to the life story of Cordell Walker so that they could make a TV show about him; in much the same way as was done with 'Serpico' and 'Toma' in the Real World. That would be the only way to disperse this Zonk.......

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

In last night's episode of 'Studio 60', the newbie writer said he was going to put Lucy's line of "I'm not white; I'm British!" into a sketch.

Had that happened in the Real World, there would be somebody like me ready to point out that he'd be accused of ripping off a similar line from 'All In The Family'.

In one episode, I believe when Archie was either in the hospital or trapped in an elevator, Roscoe Lee Browne said to him indignantly, "I'm not black; I'm Haitian!"

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"Well, maybe you were looking at the negative."
Henry Jefferson
'All in The Family'

WHEN IN TOOBWORLD, STAY AT THE HYPERION!

Thanks to TVGal Amy over at Zap2It.com (and her faithful reader Kim) I learned that there was a hotel named the Hyperion in the 'Bones' episode "The Girl With The Curl".

(I love 'Bones', but I've been watching '30 Rock' that first half hour and 'Jericho' for the second instead this season. Last week I stayed with 'Bones' and alternated with 'Jericho' during the commercials, and didn't miss much on 'Jericho' that needed catching up. This may be my pattern from now on. So anyway, I missed "The Girl With The Curl".)

The Hyperion Hotel was the old hotel where Angel set up shop with his buddies for a couple of seasons on 'Angel'. But that hotel was located in Los Angeles, and from what I could find out on the web in various forums and episode guides, the hotel where the beauty pageant took place was in Virginia.

So this could play out two different ways. Either this was just a fluke coincidence which makes no connection between 'Bones' and 'Angel', or we can try some pretzel logic to make that link.

It wouldn't be very hard - the name Hyperion Hotel could be a brand, in much the same way as Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Motel 6 are the umbrella names for hotels all over the country.

And if so, then the parent company owns both buildings and that would be a link between 'Angel' and 'Bones' based on location, location, location.

It sounds kind of boring, but considering the rumor that David Boreanaz would really like to keep his 'Angel' past away from his work on 'Bones', I guess it may be the best we can expect.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

ZONK! ["CSI: TOOBWORLD"]

At one point during last week's episode of 'Studio 60', producer Danny Tripp says to his good friend (and the show's head writer) Matt Albie:

"That would be an unusual, interesting, creative direction for 'CSI: Miami.'"

Am I bovvered? But nooooooooo!

I was only momentarily taken aback by hearing that Zonk, but I quickly found a way to work around it.

In Toobworld, there must be a TV show called 'CSI: Miami'. However, it's not a crime drama, but rather a factual series about forensics down in Florida. It would be the type of show that we'd find on the Discovery Channel here in the Trueniverse.

The 'CSI: Miami' in Toobworld is probably narrated by Bill Kurtis.

In fact, here in the Real World we have almost the same situation - a procedural crime drama called 'Cold Case', and a documentary type of series called 'Cold Case Files'.

So, no Zonk need apply.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

CROSSOVER ALERT: "THE O.C." & "GREY'S ANATOMY"!

My allies at "TVaholic" (although they're probably not even aware of my existence, even though we're both members of "Friends of Bill Paley"......) have supplied this telling dialogue exchange that forges a new link in the TV Universe:

Show: The O.C. (FOX)
Episode: The Cold Turkey (Season 4)
The Setup: Summer and her father are talking at the airport as she is heading back to college. Her dad may be accepting a job at a hospital in Seattle.
Dr. Roberts: It’s so crazy. To think the next time you come home I may not be living here.
Summer: Yah, are you going to take that job in Seattle?
Dr. Roberts: Well the offer came at the perfect time. The hospital is famous for being wonderfully quirky; it’s called Seattle Grace.

I'm trusting in TVaholic's transcription as being correct, as I don't watch the show. (I've only seen two episodes: the one with George Lucas, and the one in which Mischa Barton kicked the bucket.)

It reads rather clunkish, and I guess it would depend on the skills of the actors involved to make it work. But even if these lines were delivered by Mrs. Higgins' third-grade class, they remain true to the Toobworld tenet that if it's broadcast, it's part of the TV Universe. So this would be a legitimate link between 'The O.C.' and 'Grey's Anatomy'.

Now if only we could get some other show that's part of the "official" TV Universe, it would be a cause for joy among the Westphallians....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Monday, November 13, 2006

MISSING LINKS: "SUPERNATURAL: LIFE ON THE STREET"

There's one last splainin needed for "The Usual Suspects", last Thursday's episode of 'Supernatural'. And it's not so much about Zonks as it is a Missing Link.....

The episode took place in Baltimore, Maryland, and some of the action took place in the homicide department at a police precinct house.

Although the architecture and decor was similar to that which we're familiar in 'Homicide: Life On The Street', it's not the same place, unfortunately. It could be one of the other floors in the same building, but definitely the layout of their version of "The Box" proves it's not the same place as where Frank Pemberton did his best work.

Also, the detective played by Linda Blair was named Diane Ballard. This is the same last name as the detective played by Callie Thorne on 'H:LOTS', Laura Ballard.

Laura Ballard had previously been working in Seattle (where she may have known/worked with the father of 'Frasier', Martin Crane - before he retired due to an injury.) Perhaps one reason that she moved to Baltimore was that she was moving back home. Although we never heard mention of Diane on 'H:LOTS', it could be that she and Laura Ballard are sisters.

(Hard to believe that Diane is the older of the two. First off, we met Laura first, but also Callie Thorne carries herself with the aura of a woman who's seen a lot over the years, even though she was only born in 1969.)

There's always the chance that it was mentioned that Laura Ballard had no sisters. That's cool. We can always claim that she and Diane are cousins.

It's not like they looked that similar anyway.....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

"SUPERNATURAL" SPLAININS IV

With the last two major Zonks to appear in the latest episode of 'Supernatural', we're dealing with pop culture references that are just as multi-universal as Felix and Oscar (since today is their anniversary, t'hee).
Both allusions were made by Dean:

"You remember 'redrum'."
and
"You know, Casper the Bloodthirsty Ghost."

"redrum" is "murder" spelled backwards, and it featured prominently in a novel by Stephen King, "The Shining". That novel was adapted for other media twice. First, as a movie by Stanley Kubrick starring Jack Nicholson. And then as a TV mini-series starring Stephen Webber. (Perhaps preparing for his role as Jack Rudolph in 'Studio 60'?)

We can dismiss the book and the film, since they take place in other universes born of Mankind's creative imagination. But the televersion must be taken into account; that it must have actually taken place in Toobworld. The book was published in 1977, and the movie came out in the early 80s, but the TV mini-series was only broadcast just a few years back.

As such, the horrific events that transpired over that winter at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado must have made national headlines. Sam and Dean may have even looked into the matter over the summer during the season hiatus. And so of course the gathered Baltimore cops would recognize the phrase "redrum", as it would have been splattered all over the newspaper accounts all across the country.

As for "Caspar The Friendly Ghost", this spirit of a dead child (Let's face it - that's what he was!) was the subject of some 1940s cartoons and then Harvey comic books which are still being published today. And then there was a live-action movie that used the latest in CGI for its time, and which featured a cameo by a Toobworld character, Father Guido Sarducci, who first came to prominence on 'Saturday Night Live'. (But as was the case with Barnaby Jones in the movie about "The Beverly Hillbillies", Father Sarducci's appearance in this film was by the priest who exists in the Cineverse, not Toobworld.)

Caspar has had a few TV series based on his adventures, but those are set in the Tooniverse which - although it is a TV dimension, - is separate from that of Earth Prime-Time. The people in both dimensions are aware of the existence of the others, but for the most part they think of them as being fictional (never realizing that they all are.)

But there have been a few TV movies which feature the adventures of Caspar, in continuation from the 1995 movie:

"Casper: A Spirited Beginning" (1997) (TV)
&
"Casper Meets Wendy" (1998) (TV).

2000's "Casper's Haunted Christma"s and "Casper's Scare School" from 2005 are both animated features, so they can be relegated to the Tooniverse.

The other two are live-action, and although they continue on from the original theatrical release, neither one features the characters played by Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci. In "A Spirited Beginning", it's mostly flashback as Caspar narrates the story of his life. "Caspar Meets Wendy" tells of his first encounter with the little girl witch (played by Hilary Duff).

Dean would have known of Caspar's existence (or lack thereof). Even though the mood of 'Supernatural' clashes with that of 'Caspar', it's all one in the TV dimension. It's the same kind of mix that you get when 'Lou Grant' leaves 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' for his eponymous drama series.

Whether or not the others knew of the young (relatively speaking) ghost is besides the point. Even though Dean phrased the reference as though he expected them to understand ("You know, Casper the Bloodthirsty Ghost."), in the end it didn't matter. No matter what name Dean gave, it's the description as a "Blood-Thirsty Ghost" that would have been all that mattered to get the point across. Well, I think that's about enough spooky goings-on for the day. There's always tomorrow for more fun and adventure in Toobworld.

That is.... if you wake up.......

Sleep tight, kids!

Bwahahahahaha BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Shows cited:
'Supernatural'
"The Shining"
"Caspar The Friendly Ghost"

"SUPERNATURAL" SPLAININS III

The latest episode of 'Supernatural' was chock-full of Zonks, and thankfully, every one of them can be splained away.....

In separate meetings with their public defender, both of the Winchesters referred to him as "Matlock". The lawyer noted that it was obvious that they were brothers.

There was no indication from the lawyer that he recognized the name as a TV show reference. Nor did Sam and Dean drag out a splainin for the nickname. So we don't have to look upon this as a reality-busting Zonk, where one TV show refers to another TV show which should be sharing the same universe.

For all we know, in some adventure yet unrecorded, Sam and Dean Winchester were investigating some kind of supernatural hoogedy-boogedy down in Atlanta, Georgia. And that's where they met Ben Matlock, a trial lawyer.

And they didn't even have to go to Atlanta to either meet him or even to have heard of his reputation as a defense attorney. 'Matlock' has fought for clients in Hollywood, California, as well as in England. He may act like the down-home cornpone type, but he's got name recognition that's global.

So when they both called their lawyer "Matlock", Sam and Dean knew that he would obviously know the source of the name as well. He might have even worked with Ben Matlock in the past!

In another instance, Dean referred to Pete, the lead investigator on the case, as "Ponch". ("I'm not joking, Ponch.") For the audience at home, this is an obvious allusion to the 1970s TV series 'CHiPs', which starred Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada. (Estrada played Ponch.)

As has been the case so far with this episode, there was no mention of the TV show. And whether or not Pete understood the reference really didn't seem to matter to Dean. He probably chose it because Pete had a vague resemblance to what Officer Poncharelli looked like. (And Dean would know this because he most likely had a run-in with the motorcycle patrolman while on that same case in which the Winchesters worked with Jim Rockford. (See the earlier blog post about that.)

Or....

It could be that Dean didn't know anything about Ponch either. To him, it could have been just a funny-sounding name guaranteed to piss Pete off. He could have called him a Cheech, a Chooch..... Punchy, since Pete was getting a bit physical during the interrogation. But he settled on Ponch. Maybe he had it in mind to play with that nickname; ultimately getting to the variation "Paunch". That way, he could make fun of the midriff the cop was developing.

But that's just a theory. Still, it's a case of reasonable doubt (Look at me, going all 'Matlock' here!), and we can easily toss out any need to splain away the mention of 'Ponch'.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Shows cited:
'Supernatural'
'Matlock'
'CHiPs'

"SUPERNATURAL" SPLAININS II

There was another Zonk in last week's episode of 'Supernatural', and luckily for me, the writers chose just to make the reference and move on. I think it may have been a matter of pride - if there were people out there in the audience who didn't know what 'The Rockford Files' was, then the writers didn't want to think of them as part of their demographic.....

Trusting in Diane Ballard, Dean told the Baltimore detective where she could find his brother Sam: that he was staying in a local motel under the alias of "Jim Rockford". Dean splained that it's the name they always use on the road.

In their line of work, Sam and Dean Winchester would need the help of various people all across the country. Their father used to have such a network of allies - other paranormal investigators, cops, doctors, bounty hunters, and private eyes.

Again, we're dealing with untold stories in the saga of the Winchester boys, but it's possible that while investigating a case out in Los Angeles, they called upon the services of a retired private investigator named Jim Rockford.

I would imagine that the three of them would have meshed; that their personalities, sensibilities, and list of likes and dislikes would have made the working relationship click. Even if the Rockfish found their line of work to be totally bonkers.

I would think the Winchester brothers would have come away from the encounter with a deep appreciation for the private eye and a desire to emulate him in some small way. So as a tip of the hat, as they crossed the country they invoked his name when staying in motels while separated from each other.

It could even be a trick Rockford taught them, and so they invoke his name in honor.

It's not like they were ever going to run across a desk clerk who knew the original. After all, Sam and Dean would have realized that Jimbo rarely travelled too far from his trailer on the beach......

It's the sort of situation that has come up before on other shows; just this season in fact. Private investigator Keith Mars of Neptune, California, and the father of 'Veronica Mars', used the name Adrian Monk as his cover while investigating a case.

Despite the fact that they live at either end of the state of California ('Monk' is a resident of San Francisco.), it's not unlikely that Keith met Adrian in the course of them both performing their duties, either as private investigators or as police officers in their earlier lives.

As a matter of fact, by the end of last season, Keith had gone north to bring Woody back to Neptune. Who's to say on his road trip back (having eschewed a seat on that doomed flight) that he didn't go to the City by the Bay for a quick chance to touch base with the obsessive compulsive detective in regards to another case?

I'm sure there's a fanficcer out there somewhere who's already come up with a way to bring the two shows together.

And this time, Adrian Monk will be invoking Keith Mars' name in order to make everything even.

They'll thank me later......

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Shows cited:
'Supernatural'
'The Rockford Files'
'Veronica Mars'
'Monk'

"SUPERNATURAL" SPLAININS I

I don't watch 'Supernatural' all that often - it'll be even less so now that it will be up against 'Scrubs' and '30 Rock'. Usually I tune into this cross between 'The Night Stalker' and 'Route 66' when the topic is of particular interest to me in regards to Toobworld - the Norse Vanir, the ghost of HH Holmes, - or it's because of the guest star.

This week's episode was mildly interesting on a trivial Zonk level, but the real draw was in getting to see Linda Blair thirty years on from "The Exorcist"!

As for those Zonks, one thing for which I'll tip my hat to the writers is that they never beat you over the head with the source for their pop culture references. They make their little joke and move on, without feeling the need to stress that it comes from a TV show or that the audience should find it funny or understand what it means.

This is perfect for Toobworld's purposes because it cuts down on the splainin, and even provides theoretical links to other shows.

For instance, this week the Winchester brothers decided to split up to carry out their investigation. Dean likened themselves to the team on 'The X-Files' doing the same thing, without ever having to cite the program. All he did was tag his brother Sam as the "Scully".

Sam, of course, protested. "I'm not Scully. You're Scully."

But Dean would have none of that. "No, I'm Mulder. You're the red-headed woman."

For the audience viewing at home, not steeped in Toobworld lore, this was just a funny joke at Sam's expense which used the spooky show (and the inspiration for 'Supernatural' itself) as its reference point.

Of course, I don't see it that way.

Sam and Dean Winchester are working on cases that would have intrigued the former FBI agent and his partner. Some of the cases had been going on for years, perhaps even decades, and Fox Mulder would have had them documented in his basement cabinets full of such "X Files".

And although they probably never met, Mulder and the Winchesters probably crossed paths in the paper trails garnered from such cases. They would have known of his existence and interest in the paranormal, and vice verse. "Spooky" Mulder may have even worked with their Dad on a case or two in the past.

Not all the stories are told when it comes to TV shows. Not all the facts from even one particular episode are always depicted. Stuff happens between episodes, during the commercials, before the show ever first gets on the air, and long after its been cancelled.

So it could be that Sam and Dean have already encountered Mulder and Scully personally, most likely in these years since they quit the FBI and went undercover and on the run from the shadow agents that really run the world. We just haven't seen it happen on our TV screens. For all we know, it happened during the summer hiatus between its first two seasons on the air.

And if so, Sam understood all too well when his brother called him a "Scully"; his male pride naturally spurred him to object.

There were a couple more from this episode. Stay tuned......

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Shows cited:
'Supernatural'
'The X-Files'

LINKS TO THE LEFT UPDATE 11/13/06

My list o' links grows larger all the time. Today I've added five more which can be found in various spots up and down the dial, as it were.

KCET: Life & Times Blog
This is a blog about life in Los Angeles from the big TV station out there.

Jack Myers' Media Village
This was more a correction than an addition. The old link went only to one blog in particular, The Daily Monitor, which is now belly-up. Media Village is a collection of TV-oriented blogs, which is great - saves me from having to add them all now that they're housed under one roof.

TV MD Checkup
WebMD will look at medical issues depicted on TV and analyze how close to reality they come.

Ask Ausiello
Michael Ausiello is the Snapple-lovin', Smurfette-gropin' columnist for TV Guide who has all the best scoops for his faithful Aus-holes. This link replaces the one that used to be the umbrella link for all the TV Guide columnist, which TV Guide - in its infinite murdochian wisdom - chose to disable.

The Heldenfiles Online
Rich Heldenfels is the TV critic for the Beacon in Ohio.

There has been a bit of re-shuffling as well, and a few links dropped. Hopefully I have them all better clustered for your perusal.

(Actually, I did it for my benefit. Hopefully it works for you as well.)

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

ON THIS DATE IN TOOBWORLD

This is one of the most famous dates in Television history...

On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right, but he also knew that someday he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?

- 'The Odd Couple' opening narration

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

Sunday, November 12, 2006

WHAT CROSSES OVER IN VEGAS....

Over in the Live Journal for "Tommy Westphall's Mind", I posted the following:

So now "Las Vegas" has three known links, if I've got my figures right:

"Heroes"
"Crossing Jordan"
"Passions"

It didn't take long for a reply....


Subject: Las Vegas show links
Four links, now.
The Nov. 10 2006 episode of NBC's Las Vegas referred to The Office's Dunder Mifflin Inc., who apparently reserved a large conference room at the Monticito Casino, requiring our heroes to provide additional security for them.

I'm hoping 'The Office' will one day make a connection to the British series which inspired it as an American remake. There was supposed to be an appearance by three of the characters from the UK's 'The Office' this season, but that rumor seems to have been shot down... for now. With the actress from that show now appearing in a small role on 'Studio 60' (also on NBC), there's always the chance her character may still appear in Scranton, Pa.

And if that happens, there's always the link from the Britcom to 'Lost' and 'Alias'......

I'd love to see all of the clones of 'The Office' eventually link up - Canada's, Germany's, France's, (India?); as though they are all subsidiaries of one global corporation!

But for now, it's part of the Vegas clique!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

UNDERHOLDNINGSCHEFEN

When the Doctor first showed up at Rose's flat in the Powell Estates in the 'Doctor Who' episode "Rose", he flipped through a gossip magazine and remarked upon seeing a picture of some unknown celebrity couple:

DOCTOR
"That won't last; he's gay and she's an alien."

So.

Let's say you are in the public eye when accusations arise about your sexual preferences. These rumors (and that's all we're prepared to say that they are) threaten not only your career but also your affiliation with an organization based upon a system of belief. Powerful forces within that organization would set about in search for a woman would would hopefully dispel any notion that you might not be the man of action exemplified by your public persona.

But the front men for that organization would soon find out that such a quest was not as easy as they thought. They would work through their list of A-List actresses - only the finest for the man who is the face for their organization! - only to be rebuffed in the interview process. Finally they would find a subject willing to be the "beard" in the bottom tier of the B-List.

Now, let's say that this system of belief was based on something akin to mythology; one that involved alien intervention and ancient alien wars. What if some of those ancient alien enemies still existed today, and that they were looking for a way to exact revenge?

If these other aliens were monitoring the activities of this organization closely, they would have learned of this subterfuge to protect their most visible member. In fact, these other aliens may have even begun the nasty rumors in the first place, in order to reach this point where they might step in with their own candidate.

Their candidate would be one of their own species and they would do all within their power to make sure that their candidate remained the only viable one, removing all others from contention through any means at their disposal.

These other humans may not be human in appearance at all. They may be some kind of energy-based life forms that could inhabit a human host. If this scenario had any merit in Toobworld (certainly NOT in the Trueniverse!), this is the way I can see it playing out.

Such a subject for alien takeover would suddenly seem to turn her back on her own system of beliefs, and defy everything her parents seemed to believe in as well. She would display behavior that would seem... alien to how everyone who knew her remembered her.

The main point of this attack from within would be to bring embarrassment to the public face of the controversial organization. For the alien wars of tomorrow will not be fought with lasers and death rays, but with bad press......

And that would even include jeopardizing any child borne from a union between this public figure and the alien-possessed female. This child, which was meant to prove that the target of those rumors was a true man's man, would also need to be heralded as the great symbol of the organization's future. So nothing should be allowed to go wrong with the pregnancy.

Of course, that would be before the public figure was somehow persuaded by unknown advisors to do something outlandish. Let's say, oh, I don't know.... perhaps the celebrity is convined that he should get his own sonogram machine and perform such procedures on his unborn child over and over and over again in the privacy of his own home.......

If something did untoward happen in the delivery of a child, the organization would do all that it could to keep it hidden from view for as long as they could. Meanwhile, the other aliens would be using the investigative tools of an online gossip site to uncover the truth and expose it to the world. The secretive organization would then have to scramble in order to find a replacement for the child.

And somewhere in the frozen wastelands to the north, an Eskmo family grieves for the disappearance of their baby...........

Remember, this is something that would be taking place in the TV Universe, NOT the Real World. And in TV, all things are possible.

But did you know that in 1918, there was a movie called "The Cruise Of The Make-Believes"?

Just sayin', is all.

BCnU!
Tele-Toby

OH, THE PAIN! THE PAIN!

Notched off another classic 'Doctor Who' adventure in my long overdue game of catch-up. It was another in the Peter Davison series as the Fifth Doctor, "Castrovalva". (In fact, it's his first. I realized during "Time-Flight" that I should've switched the viewing order.)

Anyway, the pseudo-kid Shoe Hand warned me about "the penis shot", and I just figured he was referring to some phallic statuary or perhaps a one-eyed worm of a monster. I didn't realize Sean was being literal!

So I'm thinking that if 'Lost In Space' had remained true to its original sense of atmosphere - dark and dangerous - and character development, we might have seen Will Robinson end up in a similar situation with Dr. Smith as Adric found himself with the Master in "Castrovalva": all trussed up, with half a boner, and whimpering, "What do you want me to do.....?"; while Dr. Smith leers lasciviously.

Come on! It's not like we weren't already halfway there with the way 'Lost In Space' turned out anyway!

Just sayin', is all....

BCnU!
Tele-Toby