I didn't get any notice this week from the PR people of HBO about clips and stills from Episode 9 of 'Game Of Thrones' which airs tonight on the premium network. I hope I didn't insult them in any way with my previous posts on the show. 'Game Of Thrones' is easily my favorite series of 2011 and it will figure heavily in the Toobits Awards at the end of the year. It could be that my theories of how the land of Westeros called the planet Mondas home had something to do with that. Or more likely, the series is doing so well by now that they don't need to have bloggers like me trumpet its arrival.
No matter. HBO does have the preview video up on YouTube:
The episode is called "Baelor".......
Episode 9 of 'Game of Thrones' premieres tonight on HBO at 9 PM, EDT.
And if the show follows the HBO tradition, the first season finale will be pre-empted next week.....
In the fifth season opener for 'Sex And The City', Carrie met a woman named Joan in a coffee shop. That scene was filmed in the Cafe Edison of the Hotel Edison and adds to the location connections for the hotel's televersion.
Also in that circle of friends:
'Seinfeld' (George was handcuffed to a bed.)
'Becker' (Becker trashed one of the hotel rooms.)
'The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show' (Jack Benny mentioned that George and Gracie stayed there for three years when they were first married. Gracie couldn't remember its name because George checked them in.)
'Naked City' (Detective Adam Flint made out with his girlfriend in front of the building.)
'CBS Sunday Morning' (Aaron Sorkin walked by.)
'CBS' The Early Show' (The Hotel Edison was featured in a report on hotel security. Of the hotels shown in the story, only the Edison passed the reporter's test by not allowing two women with a hidden camera to get in.)
'The Incredible Hulk' (The Hulk ran past just before smashing the newspaper stand on the corner of W 47th & Broadway.)
'McCloud' (McCloud may have rode his horse through the lobby - not yet verified.)
Over in the movie universe, it's also famous for the hallway up which Luca Brasi walks in "The Godfather", and down which Jack Warden and John Cusack walk in "Bullets Over Broadway".
There's another very important connection for the building: the 2005 TV Crossover Hall Of Fame inductee (Birthday Honors List) works there.
By extension, these appearances would also be connections to 'Late Night with David Letterman', 'The Hap Richards Show', 'The Ranger Andy Show', 'Cosby', 'Everybody Loves Raymond', 'The King Of Queens', 'The Nanny', 'Mad About You', 'Friends', 'Caroline In The City', 'Frasier', 'Hope & Gloria', 'Cheers'.....
(If the 'McCloud' connection eventually pays off, then there would also be connections to the original 'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Galactica 1980' which would lead to links with 'America 2Night', 'Fernwood 2Night', and 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'.)
And that's why the Hotel Edison is being honored with induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame itself.....
Thanks to Brian-El for help in compiling this entry.....
In 1932, Lord Peter Wimsey and his valet Bunter were in Scotland on holiday when they assisted the police in a case dubbed "The Five Red Herrings". Among the policemen involved was Sgt. Dalziel (which is pronounced somewhat like "Dee-el").
It's the Toobworld Central theory of relateeveety that he was the grandfather of Yorkshire Detective Superintendant Andy Dalziel, as seen in the series 'Dalziel & Pascoe'. (From Wikipedia: Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel is described by the actor who portrays him [Warren Clarke] as 'a perfect pig', who is politically incorrect and often insensitive. He likes to do things in the old fashioned way.)
It's standard procedure in Toobworld Central to use an actor's birth year as the same for the character he plays - unless otherwise stated by the script or by the time period in which the character appears. Therefore, Andy Dalziel was probably born circa 1947, just as Warren
Clarke was.
By 1932, Sgt Dalziel could have had a son nearly old enough himself to soon get married and perhaps then move to Yorkshire. For some reason, the name of Andy Dalziel's father is engraved on a memorial in Sheffield. It may have had something to do with World War Two.
Of course, the scripts for the 'Dalziel And Pascoe' series could bleep this all up. Andy's father could have shown up, looking nothing like the actor who played the Sergeant; mention might have been made as to his profession. But it would have to be something from the TV series that would derail this theory. Whatever happened in the novels doesn't apply, even though it's the stated intention of the author.
What happens in the novels is part of the literary universe only, and that's more the purview of Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprague DeCamp of the "Incompleat Enchanter" series. Toobworld is the TV Universe and never the twain should meet. (Especially since the novels apparently have a sci-fi bent not seen in the series - or so I'm informed by Wikipedia.)
And based on the liberties taken in most TV adaptations from their bookish sources, they never have that much in common anyway. (For a good example, read "At Bertram's Hotel" by Agatha Christie, and then watch the second TV adaptation of the stories, featuring Geraldine McEwan as Miss Jane Marple.......)
I suppose by extension through the connection to Lord Peter Wimsy, this theory of relateeveety could be considered a minor part of the Wold Newton Universe as well. But I'll leave that up to Win Scott Eckert to decide; the WNU is his bailiwick and he does a fantastic job in maintaining it. (Far better than I do with Toobworld!)
So, having splained away the more problematical appearance by Abed Nadir in the season finale of 'Cougar Town' back on Friday, I should also turn my attention to the other special guest character, Ted Buckland (from Bill Lawrence's previous series 'Scrubs'.)
Big thanks to Rob for pointing the way to that video!
This was straight-up crossover, pure and simple. Ted (or "Buck", as he hoped people would call him) was in Hawaii, where he served as a Jonathan Richman-like troubadour commentator on the attempts by Jules to convince her son Travis to come back to Florida. Either Ted was in Hawaii because he was on vacation, or because he ran away after losing his love. (Gooch ran off with Hooch; as Laurie told him, "You didn't stand a chance".)
Either way, eventually Ted was going back to wherever Sacred Heart Hospital was. (Somewhere near the Seaworld in California.) Ted is just too tightly wound up and buttoned down to toss aside his life with (nearly) complete abandon.
And eventually, the Hawaiian lifestyle would eventually recognize him as the foreign anti-body in its eco-bio-system and find some way to karmically cast him out. How can I be sure of this? Because Bobby Brady's taboo idol knows all.
A 'Cougar Town' episode set outside their usual environs was the only way Lawrence could do a crossover with 'Scrubs'. If one of the 'Scrubs' characters showed up in West Gulfhaven, the audience would think Sacred Heart Hospital was located nearby. (And there is a Seaworld in Florida.) And a 'Cougar Town' resident wandering the corridors of Sacred Heart would achieve the same effect.
By the way, the options for which 'Cougar Town' character could appear in any revival of 'Scrubs' would have to exclude at least Jules, Ellie, and Jules' dad, Chick, as they all played important roles in that previous series. Too many questions as to why people at Sacred Heart wouldn't notice the resemblances.
So there is no splainin needed for the appearance of Ted, for there was no Zonk. Ted "Buck" Buckland was just enjoying some fun in the sun... and bringing it down to a sad, subterranean level.
Earlier this season, did you see the 'Community' episode "Critical Film Studies"? (Most people know it as the "Pulp Fiction" episode.) In it, Abed channeled his inner Andre Gregory - as seen in the 1981 movie "My Dinner With Andre" - and delivered a memorable monologue about being invited to be an extra on the set of 'Cougar Town':
The capper came on the last night of May Sweeps, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, when actor Danny Pudi showed up in the background of a scene in the season-ender for 'Cougar Town':
At first, it looks like it's a confirmation that 'Cougar Town' is just a TV series and that what we're seeing is Abed - as "Chad" - doing his atmosphere people schtick on a fictional series. For some televisiologists, the best splainin they could hope for is that 'Community' takes place in Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld, while 'Cougar Town' is in that same TV dimension which houses 'Hi Honey, I'm Home' and those TV movies that look behind the scenes of classic TV shows.
But this is not a Zonk. 'Community' and 'Cougar Town' both still exist in the main Toobworld.
Oh, that could be Abed that we saw in the background. But it's not Abed playing a character named "Chad". It's the actual Abed Nadir - visiting West Gulfhaven after the end of his school semester at Greendale Community in Colorado.
If you remember what he said about his Hollywood experience, he was asked to walk through a scene in the background for a show called 'Cougar Town' which starred Courtney Cox. But in the 'Cougar Town' scene, he was sitting at a table outside the Subway sandwich shop and Courtney Cox was nowhere to be seen. Instead we had Dan Byrd and Busy Philips as their characters Travis Cobb and Laurie Keller, respectively.
The scene described by Abed was for a TV show within the Toobworld reality which was called 'Cougar Town'. The scene with Abed shown during 'Cougar Town' was Toobworld reality.
Does that make sense?
Abed wasn't acting as "Chad". That was really Abed. And as for Courtney Cox, there's been no real mention to her in connection to 'Cougar Town' within the show. There just happens to be a divorcee in West Gulfhaven named Jules Cobb who happens to look like Courtney Cox. And the name 'Cougar Town' doesn't even come into play within the series, unless West Gulfhaven does have that reputation - and it probably does, thanks to women like Barb.
So, again, the 'Cougar Town' mentioned within 'Community' is not the same show as seen by the TV audience viewing at home in the Trueniverse.
Which reminds me of this Inner Toob post from My 15, about the two-part season finale of 'Community':
Also thanks to Alan Sepinwall for pointing this out, but you can see Busy Phillips and Dan Byrd among the students during that big apocalyptic attack on the Pistol Patty's ice cream truck near the end of Part Two. This could mean that Laurie accompanied Travis to Greendale Community College so that he could check out another option for school. And they didn't have to fly from West Gulfhaven, Florida, but instead from the 'Cougar Town' season finale in Hawaii. In fact, the whole gang could conceivably be there on campus, but all we saw were Laurie and Trav.
You know Jules would shoot down Greendale as an option after seeing the paintball carnage!
So it's possible that Abed got the chance to talk with Laurie and Travis and then decided to follow them back to West Gulfhaven to see it for himself. And, having been discovered, he bolted in case they thought he was stalking them.....
With the 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' episode entitled "The Last Street In Manhattan", NBC (as the parent company) missed out on a great chance for a two-part crossover on USA Network.
In "The Last Street In Manhattan", Sean was a bar owner in Inwood (just north of Toobworld Central), and when his daughter Vanessa thought he had been killed by a neighborhood mobster, she finally told the truth about how that thug killed her former boyfriend. Afterwards, she was reunited with her father who was very much alive.
That's where the episode ended. But the story of Sean and Vanessa should have continued - straight into the show that follows 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' on USA Network: 'In Plain Sight'.
In order to protect Vanessa from harm before she had a chance to testify against the mobster - and afterwards as well - she and her father should be put into the Witness Protection Program with new identities.
And that would mean we'd get to see U.S. Marshals Mary Shannon and Marshall Mann interact with Detectives Bobby Goren and Alexandra Eames as the transfer of the two took place. Then we could see Sean and Vanessa's story continue in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' and 'In Plain Sight' are already connected, so it's not like this would have been an impossible dream. Mary Shannon showed up in New York to take custody of a witness and she met with Captain Danny Ross and Detectives Mike Logan and Megan Wheeler.
Oh well. Maybe next time.....
But at some point, we may see actor Jack McGee (who played Sean) in a guest spot on some other show. Since he's such a good character actor, that's probably a given. And if we don't learn that much about his character - and so long as he's in some other location than New York City, we might be able to make the claim that he's actually Sean in his new identity.
Since this is the Video Weekend, it's about Time to check in with 'Doctor Who'!
I wasn't very satisfied with last week's episode. I had heard so many plaudits for Neil Gaiman as a writer, that I really expected to have my socks knocked off with his script for "The Doctor's Wife". I even put socks on for the occasion!
But it was somewhat of a humdrum affair. Part of the blame could be laid on the budgetary concerns for the show, as a lot of plot ideas that he had were put aside for lack of money. Here we finally got a chance to roam around in the TARDIS outside of the latest console room and all we got were corridors! No quick peeks into any other rooms, save for another console room and that had to be the last incarnation. I suppose that was a cost-cutting measure as well since they still had the set, but really - would it have been that expensive to recreate the control room from Hartnell's time? It was all cardboard!
Still, the story felt like we had been down this road before, and it wasn't just because of the many touchstones he put in to episodes from the past. (The Ood, the message cube, etc.) And the idea of a human body hosting the living persona of the TARDIS had been done before in a couple of outside-Toobworld venues. In fact, I remember - just before the Christmas special of "Voyage Of The Damned" was broadcast, one of the newspapers over in the UK suggested that Kylie Minogue's character of Astrid would turn out to be the TARDIS. (It's an anagram, you see, Jamie.....)
Suranne Jones, however, was lovely and fetchingly off-kilter in the role of Idris/TARDIS. But the other big name guest star - Michael Sheen? I didn't mind that he was just the disembodied voice of "House", the big baddie, but his voice was augmented so that it could have been just about anybody. (I listened to "Cobwebs", a 'Doctor Who' audio-play on BBC Radio 4 all this week, and the voice of the computer Edgar sounded just the same. They could have hired a much cheaper actor, saved Sheen for a later, meatier role, and used that spare cash to build me that early console room!
We're already up to Episode Five of HBO's new series 'Games On Thrones'. Based on the series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, it takes place in the Seven Kingdoms on the continent of Westeros (which for Toobworld purposes only is considered to be on the planet Mondas, Earth's orbital "twin").
Here's the preview trailer for the new episode, which airs tonight at 9 PM EDT.....
And here's an extended scene from the episode:
It's not too late to dive into 'Game Of Thrones'. You can catch earlier episodes on HBO On Demand.....
I was first introduced to the actress Marian Mercer when I was in college and she appeared in the soap opera-sitcom 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman' as Wanda Jeter (nee Rittenhouse). As with several other women living in Fernwood, Ohio, I developed a crush on her. Ms. Mercer brought a charming sophistication to the role.
And you might not agree, but I think it's evident even in this scene:
Sadly, Marian Mercer passed away at the age of 75, around the same time as Jackie Cooper. She was also known in Toobworld for her roles in 'It's A Living' and 'The Wacky World Of Jonathan Winters'.
Shirley Partridge's maiden name was Renfrew, so it could be that she was the cousin of Dr. Renfrew, who ran the Greystark Hall Orphanage and who was under the domination of the Silence.
It can't be any closer a relationship than cousin, because Shirley Renfrew grew up in Southern California, while Dr. Renfrew had a Southern accent. (I'm thinking Louisiana, perhaps the Delta region.)
They also don't look anything alike, but that's not a problem when it comes to cousins. Hey, they're not all "identical cousins" in Toobworld.....
Episode Three of 'Game Of Thrones' is broadcast tonight on HBO at 9 pm.
Here are a couple of preview clips for your enjoyment.....
First up, Jon Snow get in a little "schoolyard exercise".......
And in this clip, Jaime Lannister and Ned Stark size each other up, but no matter who might feel the bigger man, they are both dwarfed by the enormity of that throne room!
It's never too late to dive into this fantasty series, which Toobworld Central has placed on Earth's "twin" planet of Mondas......
The other day I pointed out that the most recent episode of 'Community' demonstrated how life during prime-time goes on, even though we don't see it happening on our TV screens.
In a way, the third and final episode of the CBS CIA comedic adventure series 'CHAOS' did the same thing.
At the end of the episode, we got to see scenes from the fourth episode ("Two Percent"), in which the ODS team would have gone to Hong Kong on an extraction mission that involved the former partner and lover of a team member.
But after the airing of that third episode, CBS cancelled the series.
That doesn't mean those characters no longer exist; that's not how Toobworld works. We have the documented proof that they went through all of that Hong Kong phooey, and there would still be plenty more missions down the line. We just won't be able to see them.
There are four episodes only listed in most episode guides to be found around the internets:
"Pilot" "Song Of The North" "Love And Rockets" "Two Percent"
Yet I keep finding pictures with references to an episode entitled "Eaten By Wolves". The main picture shows Rick, Michael, Billy, and Casey walking down a seedy alley in a "red light district"..... Maybe it could be part of the Hong Kong episode and "Eaten By Wolves" was the original title. Or maybe we have a fifth mission for the Clandestine Administration and Oversight Services team. (CAOS - hence the show's name)
With only three episodes actually broadcast, I doubt there'll be a call for fanfic about 'CHAOS', but hey, you never know. (I just hope we won't be seeing any slash-fic about it!) Not that it's fanfic per se, but I suppose somewhere down the line we'll have to consider the pozz'bility that one of the team members gets killed in the line of duty.
At any rate, since there were only three episodes aired, 'CHAOS' didn't have much of a chance to lay down any major Zonks which could have prevented them from remaining in Earth Prime-Time. As a separate division of the CIA, the team wouldn't clash with any other established TV characters working for the intelligence organization (as could be found in shows like 'Chuck' or 'Covert Affairs'. I'm not counting 'The Agency' because that took place in an alternate universe, which also included 'The District' and maybe 'Prison Break' and 'The Breakout Kings' as well.)
Even Director H.J. Higgins can co-exist with those in charge at the CIA in other shows. In the last episode aired, he did mention that he had "superiors" in the Agency. So more than likely his title of "Director" dealt only with the ODS department.
It wasn't a great show, but it made enjoyable TV viewing for me on a Saturday morning once I got home from work. And it featured a cast who were a pleasure to hang out with (especially Carmen Ejogo and Christina Cole!) but also James Murray, a favorite from 'Primeval'.
I'm sorry to see it go, but at least my Toobian faith reassures me that those characters live on...... LOL
THE MEMORIAL TO THE LATE IANTO JONES (WHO NEVER EXISTED IN THE REAL WORLD!)
Rob Buckley, major MINEr of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left, Team Toobworld!), offerd up a couple of posts that should be of interest to the visitors at Inner Toob.
First up, somebody out there in the world of the Net used a Toobworld sensibility in this photo M*A*S*H-up. But I suppose it could also be seen as a blend of the fictional universes for comic books and literature (or some sub-dimension if the idea of the "Twilight" books as literature makes you gag.)
And then, while on a short holiday trip to Wales, MediumRob and the Missus discovered that Cardiff and Barry Island are enjoying their connections to Toobworld......
It's been thirty years, so with my "Swiss Cheese memory", I can't remember who was the betrothed couple, but it reminds me of when two fictional characters got engaged.....
The parent company (I think it was Marvel Comics) received a toaster as a wedding gift from some fan!
I've alluded to this several times in the last few weeks - as far as Toobworld Central is concerned, the televersion of 'Game Of Thrones' is located in the main TV Universe, just not on Earth Prime-Time. Its' "our" claim that the realm of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros was located on the original Earth, Mondas. ("Mondas" means "Earth" in the old languages, according to the Doctor.)
Mondas used to be in 1:1 orbital resonance with Earth Prime-Time. It is not known when it happened, but the Cybermen blasted the planet out of its orbit to roam the galaxy until it was finally destroyed upon its return to the Sol system in 1986.
Mondas is the Earth of the Creation story, made by God and populated with Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the Snake, the whole big blue marble.
Meanwhile, Earth Prime-Time, "mostly harmless" and most similar to our own Earth, was built as a super computer by the Magratheans. Its version of Adam and Eve were astronauts Adam Cooke and Eve Norta, both from other worlds. In fact, it's our contention that Eve Norta escaped from the much older civilizations of Mondas. The "star chart" she drew in the dirt in explanation to Cooke seems to tell the story of Mondas. (As Cooke interpreted it: "That's your planet; that's where you came from. Your planet got out of its orbit and moved away from your sun. That's where you went; that's where your world went. But you got out.......") This means Mondas had developed interplanetary travel by the time that the Dawn of Mankind was beginning on Earth.
Perhaps Eve Norta brought with her much of the lore of her homeworld, at least in oral tradition which she shared with Adam Cooke... and their children. This would be passed down to the future generations of Mankind and adapted/adopted as their own history and religion.
Being the much older planet, the evolution and civilization of Mondas developed earlier and perhaps even quicker than that on Earth. For one thing, they probably didn't have a Dark Ages which impeded scientific advancement on Earth. That gave Mondas a huge boost in their development.
But they still had a Middle Ages period and its in that era where we at Toobworld Central would situate such shows as 'Wizards And Warriors', 'Legend Of The Seeker', and of course, the show that just premiered on HBO, 'Game Of Thrones'. So that way, the TV Universe can keep the land of Westeros - as well as the realms of D'Hara ('Legend Of The Seeker') and Karteia and Camarand ('Wizards And Warriors') - without disrupting Earth Prime-Time with any geographical inconsistencies like the Narrow Sea and dragon-shaped continent of Asperans.
And yet!
In the week before 'Game Of Thrones' premiered, 'Chuck' Bartowski nearly sabotaged it all with a Zonk......
While reading a volume of George R.R. Martin's "A Song Of Ice And Fire", Chuck notes, "Eddard, you don't let your kids keep a direwolf. That's a terrible idea."
'Tis a Zonk most easily splained away, my Lords and Ladies!
The splainin follows a similar path taken for why 'Star Trek' exists as a series of TV shows sicne the 1960's and yet is the actual future of Toobworld. In that case, someone from the Future - and I'm thinking it has to be a certain Time Lord from Gallifrey - gave the televersion of Gene Roddenberry a complete history of Earth Prime-Time, particularly of Starfleet and specifically of the starship Enterprise in all its incarnations.
(It may have been accidental if it had been done by the Doctor, who normally believes that History must not be re-written, "not one line!" It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that he lost his 500 year diary while visiting early 1960's Los Angeles and Roddenberry's televersion found it.)
This would go against the established story of how Roddenberry came to create 'Star Trek', as recounted in 'Pioneers of Television', but the episode that focused on science fiction did say that Roddenberry's story could have been just that - a story......
As for the televersion of George R.R. Martin (who so far has portrayed himself in behind-the-scenes footage for 'Game Of Thrones' and seen patronizing a restaurant in the "Fever" episode of 'Beauty And The Beast' - unlike Roddenberry, no other actor has portrayed him), it could be that he somehow stumbled upon the ancient lore of Mondas brought to Toobworld by Eve Norta. But that doesn't really seem likely - such materials must have long since been lost to the erosion of Time, and she must have crash-landed on Toobworld far from where Martin lived.
This scenario would be more likely - surely there must have been pockets of resistance on Mondas against the transformation of the planet's humans into the Cybermen, even to the very end of the planet's existence. One of those last humans, like Eve Norta before them, may have escaped the planet by rocket-ship as it approached the Sol system in the mid-1980's, bringing with him (or her) tales of the realms in Westeros long ago. This time, the Mondasian ship crashed in a location accessible to the televersion of George R.R. Martin, or the Mondasian human may have actively sought out someone of Martin's talent to tell the tale of Mondas, to keep its heritage alive.
This could also have all been done automatically, like the Kataanian beacon seen in the "Inner Light" episode of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'. In fact, a Mondasian beacon (perhaps based on technology stolen from the Kataanians while Mondas traveled the universe) may have made contact with the minds of several likely candidates, so that many aspects of Mondasian culture could be kept alive; Martin only received the information about the realms of Westeros during the Mondasian Middle Ages.
And that would be why Chuck Bartowski would be able to read a book about Eddard Stark from another planet while Stark's storyline is also playing out in the same TV Universe.
So that's good enough for the book series; but what about any future Zonks that might mention the TV series? (And my prediction is that it will be 'The Big Bang Theory' that does it first.) If it happens, then we let Toobworld follow the real world's lead - that somebody decided the books were good enough to develop a TV series about them. And if any scenes from the actual series are shown on Toobworld TV sets, then we'll just say that the actors hired bore incredible likenesses to the "real" people who lived in Westeros on the planet Mondas a very long time ago.......
SHOWS CITED: 'Game Of Thrones' 'Chuck' - "Chuck vs. The Family Volkoff" 'Wizards And Warriors' 'Legend Of The Seeker' 'Doctor Who' - "The Power Of The Daleks" & "The Tenth Planet" 'The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy' 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' - "Inner Light" 'Pioneers Of Television' - "Science Fiction" 'Star Trek' (the original series)
As a promotional stunt for Sunday night's premiere of 'Game Of Thrones' on HBO, the sword-throne featured in the print ads was set up in Union Square Park in New York on Thursday.
If everybody was like me out there, they wouldn't have had to bother with the display. I'm going to be recording the show and then rushing home from work in the morning to watch it.
It should go great with a bowl of cereal!
BCnU!
UPDATE! Here's a Facebook message from "Game Of Thrones":
To all who wish to seize the Iron Throne in NYC, it will be in Columbus Circle today from 11am-7pm.Read more...
I don't know if ABC shocked the TV industry by canceling two of their veteran soap operas - 'All My Children' and 'One Life To Live' - but they certainly shocked those shows' viewers. Both had been on the air for over 40 years each. They had attention-grabbing storylines over the years, and 'AMC' created its own headlines when Susan Lucci, who played Erica Kane, went a record 18 years without winning the Daytime Emmy award for Best Actress. Meanwhile, Erika Slezak won six of the statuettes for playing Victoria Lord and holds the record for that feat.
Here's part of the statement released by ABC Daytime president Brian Fons:
“While we are excited about our new shows and the shift in our business, I can’t help but recognize how bittersweet the change is. We are taking this bold step to expand our business because viewers are looking for different types of programming these days. They are telling us there is room for informative, authentic and fun shows that are relatable, offer a wide variety of opinions and focus on ‘real life’ takeaways."
Yeah, I'll just bet they are.
How do I read that? ABC wants to make more money for their executives (May they be nibbled to death by ducks!) by getting rid of all those expensive actors and by televising schlock instead.
What will replace these shows? 'The Chew', a food-themed talk show, and 'The Revolution' a lifestyle makeover show.
Wow. I bet they will have the audience hooked like 'Lost' used to do....
If those rich corporate bastards are going to be making so much money by putting people out of work, the government should start charging them for access to the airwaves.
Oh, I forgot. The government is owned by rich corporate bastards.
Okay, I admit that I didn't watch 'All My Children', but I did watch 'One Life To Live' for a few years back in the 1980's. (Dan Lauria, whom I knew in college, was in it at the time. And besides, if Mary Brooks like it.....)
And I never watched other recently departed soaps like 'Guiding Light', 'Another World', 'As The World Turns', 'Port Charles' and 'Passons'. They may have all be losing audiences, but there were many people out there who did still watch them and who invested a lot in those worlds.
Toobworld becomes a little poorer with the loss of these shows.
The last episode for 'All My Children' will be in September of this year. 'One Life To Live' ends its run in January of 2012.....
I watched tonight's (3/31/11) episode of 'The Mentalist', "The Red Mile" and had a few Toobworldly thoughts.....
1] The murder victim, Timothy Hartley, could have been a cousin to Dr. Bob Hartley from 'The Bob Newhart Show'. He couldn't have been a brother as Bob only had a sister, Ellen. And Tim couldn't be a nephew as he was too old to have been born after we met Ellen on the sitcom. Besides, I doubt she would have had a child out of wedlock; I'd like to think she eventually married Howard Borden.
2] The Cook Family made its fortunes in sugar beets, via the grandfather. I'm going to say it was the maternal grandfather's business and that he was descended from Hans "Potato" Brumbaugh, who established his agricultural empire in 'Centennial', Colorado. The reason why the Cooks attribute only so far back as to the grandfather is because he began his branch of the family business near Auburn, California.
3] One of the mortuaries investigated by CBI Agents Rigsby and Van Pelt was Pine Valley Mortuary. It'll be my contention that it was part of a nation-wide chain with the original mortuary to be found in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, as seen in 'All My Children'.
4] And this really doesn't involve Toobworld as such. I just wanted to say that I've always enjoyed the work of George Wyner, but that he's come to be such a dependable character actor in everything he does that I'm guilty of taking him for granted. Well, tonight, he really knocked it out of the park with his portrayal of Dr. Steiner the coroner, and I was truly moved by that last scene in the episode between Steiner and Patrick Jane......
Detective Mike Logan was on 'Law & Order' from the first episode until he was reassigned (for punching a politician) in 1995. In the TV movie "Exiled", Logan was working out of Staten Island with an eye to making his return to a Manhattan precinct. This finally happened when he was assigned to the Major Crimes Squad in the fifth season of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent'. (He also made a few appearances down in Baltimore on 'Homicide: Life On The Street', which is why he was inducted into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame in April of 2006.)
But there is very little we know about Mike Logan's personal life - he was raised by a physically abusive mother; he was sexually assaulted by his parish priest; and his girlfriend got an abortion against his wishes.
Based on his entry in Wikipedia, it sounds like his father was absent from the family for one reason or another. ("My mother beat me with one hand while she held a Rosary with the other." - so where was Dad during all of that?)
Either Mr. Logan died when Mike was very young, or he and his wife were divorced, or he abandoned the family... or "Mrs." Logan was never married in the first place.
But Mike Logan's father may have had a brother who served as a role model for a young Mike. In the 'N.Y.P.D.' episode "The Red-Headed Pigeon", someone named Logan was able to get a plaster cast of a shoe at a crime scene. I don't know if the NYPD had an actual crime scene unit in operation by 1968, or if this was done by one of the investigating officers of the 27th Squad, but Lt. Mike Haines spoke of Logan as if the other detectives knew who he was.
So I'm going to make the claim for a theory of relateeveety - this Detective Logan or CSI officer Logan was the uncle to young Mike Logan, who would have been thirteen years old at the time of that rape case. And he could have been so influenced by this uncle that when he became a detective himself, he made sure he got assigned to the same precinct, the 2-7...... BCnU!
In the 'N.Y.P.D.' episode "The Red-Headed Pigeon", someone named Logan was able to get a plaster cast of a shoe at a crime scene. I don't know if the NYPD had an actual crime scene unit in operation by 1968, or if this was done by one of the investigating officers of the 27th Squad, but Lt. Mike Haines spoke of Logan as if the other detectives knew who he was.
BCnU!
