Busy For Fun Blogs: As Seen On TV

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AS SEEN ON TV: JAMIE DIMON, SECOND TIME ROUND

JAMIE DIMON

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

AS PLAYED BY:
Michael Brandon

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

Click here to see how Bill Pullman looked in the role of this Diamond Jim, Jamie Dimon.....

BCnU!

THE HAT SQUAD: CLARENCE CLEMONS

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

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

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

'Til Death' - "Eddie's Book"

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

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

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

'The Wire' - Roman (in two episodes)

'My Wife And Kids' - Johnny Watson

'Viper' - Leo Duquesne

'The Weird Al Show' - A Miner

'The Sentinel' - A Workman

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

'The Flash' - Darrell Hennings

THE BIG MAN GETS FLASHED...

'Jake And The Fatman' - Blue Danny Boyd

'Diff'rent Strokes' - Mr. Kingsley

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

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

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.....

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!

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!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN MACK, MACH II

JOHN MACK

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

AS PLAYED BY:
Henry Goodman

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

Click here if you want to see John Mack as he appeared in the TV dimension known (for now) as the Land of Remakes.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: DICK FULD... ONCE MORE

DICK FULD

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

AS PLAYED BY:
Corey Johnson

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

Click here to read about Dick Fuld from an earlier ASOTV showcase.

He looks just like another rich bleeper in Toobworld, who's currently living in an underground bunker in Utah. At some point next year, the Gallifreyan Time Lord will meet Henry Van Statten.....

BCnU!

ASOTV: COMING SOON TO A TOOBWORLD NEAR YOU

This autumn, BBC4 will be presenting a dramatization of the religious controversy that surrounded the Monty Python movie "The Life Of Brian" back in 1979.

So there will be plenty of fodder for the ASOTV gallery with actors portraying the members of the Python troupe. And I wouldn't be surprised if the two right-wing religious opponents who tried to parry with John Cleese and Michael Palin on a British TV show on the subject - even though they didn't see the first fifteen minutes of the movie and went through the whole film thinking Graham Chapman's portrayal of Brian was actually supposed to be that of Jesus Christ.

Hopefully it will eventually find its way over to BBC-America or PBS. But considering the topic and the troglodyte thinking of the Far Right in this country, I may have to look for it on DVD or via (ahem!) other means.....

Here's a list of the actors to play the Monty Python gang:

John Cleese - Darren Boyd

Michael Palin - Charles Edwards

Eric Idle - Steve Punt

Graham Chapman - Tom Fisher

Terry Jones - Rufus Jones

Terry Gilliam - Phil Nichol

"'Holy Flying Circus' is not a biopic, but a fantastical re-imagining of the Pythons' struggle with censorship in the run-up to the release of Life of Brian," said a BBC spokeswoman.

The movie will probably end up in that TV dimension that holds other behind the scenes depictions of various TV productions from either side of the Atlantic....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: HANK PAULSON... AGAIN

HANK PAULSON

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

AS PLAYED BY:
James Cromwell

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

Click here if you want to read the original ASOTV about the Secretary of the Treasury - as played by William Hurt in "Too Big To Fail".

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!

AS SEEN ON TV: JOHN THAIN

JOHN THAIN

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

AS PLAYED BY:
Ben Daniels

TV DIMENSION:
Earth Prime-Time

JOHN THAIN

AS SEEN IN:
"Too Big To Fail"

AS PLAYED BY:
Matthew Modine

TV DIMENSION:
Land of Remakes

From Wikipedia:
John Alexander Thain (born May 26, 1955) is an American businessman, investment banker, and currently the Chairman & CEO, of the CIT Group.

Thain was the last chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch before its merger with Bank of America. He was designated to become president of global banking, securities, and wealth management at the newly combined company, but he resigned on January 22, 2009. Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, reportedly forced Thain to resign after several controversies, such as losses at Merrill Lynch proved to be far larger than previously estimated, and over the awarding of executive bonuses.

Several media sources have nicknamed Thain "Superman", due to his facial resemblance to the character's alter-ego Clark Kent.

I don't know why, but my original source of publicity materials didn't include a picture of Matthew Modine as Thain. (Love that name!) But that's a good thing, because now I can have a "Two For Tuesday" edition of the ASOTV showcase with both televersions being used for the first time.

I'm curious how well Daniels did with the accent; he certainly fails with the "Looks Like Clark Kent" description. (Not that Modine is that close a resemblance.....)

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: KEN LEWIS

Since it was James Bolam's role as Ken Lewis that led to my discovery of "The Last Of The Lehman Brothers", we'll kick off this special week of ASOTV with him.....

KENNETH LEWIS

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

AS PLAYED BY:
James Bolam

From Wikipedia:
Kenneth D. "Ken" Lewis (born April 9, 1947) is the former CEO, President, and Chairman of Bank of America, the largest bank in the United States and second largest in the world. On September 30th, 2009 Bank of America confirmed that Ken Lewis would be retiring by the end of the year. He was replaced by Brian Moynihan as President and CEO and Walter Massey as Chairman of the Board.

During the financial crisis of 2008, he engineered the takeover of Merrill Lynch for $50 billion.

On April 29, 2009, Bank of America shareholders narrowly voted to separate the positions of Chairman of the Board and CEO, effectively removing CEO Lewis from his position as Chairman of the Board of BofA, though he remained both the bank's president and its CEO.

On September 30, 2009, Lewis announced his retirement from Bank of America effective as of December 31, 2009. Lewis released the statement "The Merrill Lynch and Countrywide integrations are on track and returning value already. Our board of directors and our senior management include more talent, and more diversity of talent, than at any time in this company's history. We are in position to begin to repay the federal government's TARP investments. For these reasons, I decided now is the time to begin to transition to the next generation of leadership at Bank of America." It was reported that this move was his own decision and that he did not receive pressure from the bank's Board of Directors.

Based on the company's most recent proxy statement, his full pension benefits total $53 million. Critics of the financial sector's salary scale have cited this sum as indicative of poor oversight by the board of directors and as an example of inflated executive compensation. As his plan dates back more than seven years, he is still entitled to full benefits. Bank of America has since revised their compensation plan for retiring executives.

In October, 2009, at the suggestion of Kenneth Feinberg, the U.S. Treasury's special master for compensation, Lewis decided to forgo salary or bonus in 2009. His 2008 salary was about $1.5 million. "He has taken home $148.8 million from cash and stock sales since taking over the bank in 2001, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm. He is also leaving with more than $135 million in retirement benefits, including the pension and $10 million in life insurance benefits, according to an analysis of corporate filings by James F. Reda & Associates, an independent consulting firm."

The role of Ken Lewis must have been considered insignificant to the casting directors for "Too Big To Fail"; it was given to a relatively unknown actor named Robert Vincent Smith. (Which is not a slap against his acting talents, just his reputation......)

BCnU!

LEHMAN BROTHERS - A TELEVISION REVISION

Well, this is an interesting development.....

The concept of Toobworld is always in flux, constantly evolving, constantly being rewritten. For the most part, the blame (as such) falls on me - sometimes I'll make statements that have to be retracted because I wasn't so thorough in my research. Other times it's due to revisions or new additions to the established canon of a series. So in that way, the Toobworld Dynamic is like the medium it studies.

Two examples of both from the same show:
1) I claimed in a blog post that the new version of 'Human Target' could exist in the same TV dimension as the original, which starred Rick Springfield. (It's existenc as a comic book doesn't enter the equation.) I had the splainins and everything! But then they had to do an episode with a totally different Royal Family of Great Britain, which tossed them into an alternate TV dimension from Toobworld and the Trueniverse.

2) Because of that, I added the new 'Human Target' to a Super-Six List of TV shows that could be set in the 'West Wing' universe. But as one of Team Toobworld pointed out, I could have held on to that claim if it was just Queen Elizabeth who had been mentioned on 'The West Wing'. (We saw a totally different Queen Elizabeth in the 'Human Target world, and she was kind of hot in an older woman sort of way. And it will probably turn out she's younger than me, but still.... Hot!)

But as the Team Toobworld member pointed out, 'The West Wing' mentioned other members of the true Royal Family (either Prince Edward or Prince Andrew) who were specific to those found in Toobworld as well as the real world.

This is why I'm thankful that I have Team Toobworld - I really depend on them!

So that's all meandering blather to lead up to the latest revision......

In promoting the HBO movie about the 2008 financial collapse, I ran a series of As Seen On TV features for each of the main characters, all drawn from real life. And for all of them, I stated that they were to be found in Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld.

(With Timothy Geithner, I used him for the "Two For Tuesday" edition, as he had also been portrayed on 'Saturday Night Live', placing that portrayal in Skitlandia. And for Warren Buffett, who played himself in at least one other Earth Prime-Time series ['All My Children'], I claimed that the version played by Ed Asner was a quantum leaper.)

A basic tenet for Earth Prime-Time inclusion is that old "First Come, First Served" rule. Whichever version of a project is broadcast first, that has the right to remain in the main Toobworld. The next would go to the "Land of Remakes" then on to other dimensional choices like "the evil mirror universe", but falling short of the Tooniverse or Skitlandia (unless it's animated or a comedy sketch, respectively.)

There are exceptions to every rule, of course. The most famous one for this situation is that of Sherlock Holmes. There were two earlier TV series about the great detective that I know of - one with Ronald Howard, the other with Peter Cushing. But it's the series with Jeremy Brett as Holmes whom I've decided should be the permanent tenant of Earth Prime-Time, because his series had the most adaptations of the original stories written by Dr. Watson and edited by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

(I may yet keep the Ronald Howard version in Earth Prime-Time, if I can successfully make the argument that his Holmes was an imposter. Peter Cushing's portrayal, just based on the five remaining episodes in existence, all from the canon, should go to the Land of Remakes. Not only because it was the remake, but also because they were that good.)

Again I'm blathering.

So anyhoo, I was doing some research on James Bolam for a theory of relateeveety connected to the Friday Mug-Shot feature when I discovered that he had been in a TV movie about the 2008 financial collapse made by the BBC in 2009, well over a year before HBO's "Too Big To Fail".

"The Last Days Of Lehman Brothers" has most of the same real world players as "Too Big To Fail" (played by a few ex-pat Americans for the most part), but with some exceptions.

Bolam's character of Ken Lewis, for example - he appears in "Too Big To Fail", but not in big enough a capacity to merit a name actor with star power for the role. Warren Buffett? Not even listed among the "dramatis personae" to be found at the IMDb.com. If he's not even in the movie, then there's no need for that 'Quantum Leap' splainin, at least in Earth Prime-Time......

As for Jim Wilkinson, played by Topher Grace in "Too Big To Fail", he could have been changed to a character named Zack played by Michael Landes in the Brit version. I'd have to see it to be sure.

So because it aired first, "The Last Days of Lehman Brothers" will now be considered the official record of those events in Earth Prime-Time. And "Too Big To Fail" will be packed off to the Land of Remakes. (I really do need to come up with a catchy name for that world.....)

All this week, we'll be running a new batch of As Seen On TV showcases for the main players, starting with the man who started the ball rolling - James Bolam's portrayal of Ken Lewis.

BCnU!

A LI'L DEBBIE

And we'll close out this Video Weekend with a little music by Debbie Harry. The rest of the scene has been filtered through France...

Au revoir!

AND HERE NOW, THE NEWS..... FROM SCOTLAND

This is going out to my friend Helen, in case she's feeling homesick....

A big thanks to Rob Buckley for pointing it out!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: WINTON DEAN

Happy Father's Day!

WINTON DEAN

AS SEEN IN:"James Dean: Race With Destiny"
AS PLAYED BY:Joseph Campanella

From the web site "Find A Grave":
Father of legendary actor, James Byron Dean. Mr. Dean was a native of Fairmount, Indiana, where he was born on January 17, 1907, a son of Charles and Emma Woolen Dean. His principal life's work was that of a dental technician. At the time of his death, he resided in Marion, Indiana, and he returned to the spiritual realm on February 21, 1995.

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!

BIRTHDAY (SUIT) BASH

I finally got around to watching the series premiere of 'Franklin & Bash' and found it better than I expected. I've got two more episodes in the queue and if they hold up as well, I may add it to my summertime queue.

About halfway through the episode, the character of Peter Bash brought back the glory days of 'NYPD Blue'.......

And I'm sending that out to my friend Mark Thompson on this, his birthday. I'm sure he won't mind that the gift was already unwrapped.....

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: PAUL McCARTNEY

On this date in 1942, Paul McCartney was born.....

PAUL McCARTNEY

AS SEEN IN:
"Two Of Us"

AS PLAYED BY:
Aidan Quinn

Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), McCartney is the most commercially successful songwriter in the history of popular music, according to Guinness World Records.

McCartney gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular songs in the history of rock music. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles in the UK.

In a 1980 interview, Lennon said that the last time he had seen McCartney was when they had watched the episode of 'Saturday Night Live' (May 1976) in which Lorne Michaels had made his $3,000 cash offer to get Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr to reunite on the show. McCartney and Lennon had seriously considered going to the studio, but were too tired. This event was fictionalised in the 2000 television film "Two of Us".

His last telephone call to Lennon, which was just before Lennon and Ono released Double Fantasy, was friendly. During the call, Lennon said (laughing) to McCartney, "This housewife wants a career!" which referred to Lennon's househusband years, while looking after Sean Lennon. In 1984, McCartney said this about the phone call: "Yes. That is a nice thing, a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out. But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn't have any kind of blow-up." Linda McCartney, speaking in the same 1984 interview stated: "I know that Paul was desperate to write with John again. And I know John was desperate to write. Desperate. People thought, well, he's taking care of Sean, he's a househusband and all that, but he wasn't happy. He couldn't write and it drove him crazy. And Paul could have helped him... easily."

But more importantly about this date, it's the birthday of my friend Mark Thompson!

BCnU!

From Wikipedia:

AS SEEN ON TV: OLIVER HARDY

Well, we featured Stan Laurel yesterday on my brother's birthday. And although it might seem more appropriate to wait until August 7th to run this, it didn't feel right to separate Stan in the lists from Babe.....

OLIVER HARDY

AS SEEN IN:
"Stan"

AS PLAYED BY:
Trevor Cooper

From Wikipedia:
Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.

In May 1954, Hardy suffered a mild heart attack. During 1956, Hardy began looking after his health for the first time in his life. He lost more than 150 pounds in a few months which completely changed his appearance. Letters written by Stan Laurel, however, mention that Hardy had terminal cancer, which has caused some to suspect that this was the real reason for Hardy’s rapid weight loss. Hardy was a heavy smoker, as was Stan Laurel. Hal Roach made the statement they were a couple of "freight train smoke stacks".

Hardy suffered a major stroke on September 14, which left him confined to bed and unable to speak for several months. He remained at home, in the care of his beloved Lucille. He suffered two more strokes in early August 1957, and slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. Oliver Hardy died on August 7, 1957, aged 65 years old. His remains are located in the Masonic Garden of Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood.

Stan Laurel was too ill to go to his film partner and friend's funeral. He stated, "Babe would understand."

BCnU!

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