AS SEEN ON TV: "THE WIZARD OF ID"

And now a little something different for the "As Seen On TV" showcase for my day off.....

"THE WIZARD OF ID"

The Wizard - Jim Henson
The King - Jerry Juhl
Spook - Jim Henson

From Wikipedia:
"The Wizard of Id" is a daily newspaper comic strip created by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart. Beginning in 1964, the strip follows the antics of a large cast of characters in a shabby medieval kingdom called "Id". From time to time, the King refers to his subjects as "Idiots". (The title is a play on "The Wizard of Oz", combined with the Freudian psychological term Id, which represents the instinctive and primal part of the human psyche.)

In 1997 Brant Parker passed his duties on to his son, Jeff Parker, who had already been involved with creating Id for a decade. As of late 2002, the strip appears in some 1,000 newspapers all over the world, syndicated by Creators Syndicate.

In 1969, Jim Henson and Don Sahlin produced a test pilot for "The Wizard of Id". By the time interest was expressed in the concept Henson was deeply involved in other projects and decided to not pursue it any further.

For More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Id


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MURDER BY THE BOOK: "COLUMBO" & "THE MENTALIST"

This post deals with the most recent episode of 'The Mentalist' ("Every Rose Has Its Thorn") and by necessity I'll have to discuss the solution to the murder. If you have it stored on your DVR for later viewing, you'd be well off to take a hike to some other blog for the time being.

But first, let's talk about Lt. 'Columbo'. And by the way, I'll be giving away quite a few solutions to the murders on that series; if you haven't seen this classic already, there's no hope for you......

The rumpled detective gets mentioned a lot in other shows, usually as a pop culture reference nickname for another character. ("Nice going, Columbo!" - that sort of thing.) Most of these are evenly divided between treating Columbo as a real person and as a TV show.

For instance, while working under an assumed name at a car wash, Adrian Monk solved a crime; the local paper dubbed 'Monk as "The Car Wash Columbo".

No matter where they live in Toobworld, by now everybody should have heard of the LAPD detective.

How could they not? The Lieutenant must have received a lot of publicity after solving murders committed by such famous people as a symphony conductor, a wunderkind film director, the host for a cooking show and the host for a reality crime program, a nationally syndicated radio talk show host, the star of a TV detective series, a couple of fading queens of the silver screen, a world chess champion, and a senatorial candidate (who may have actually won the election just as he was being arrested.) Columbo was involved in at least three international incidents - at the Surian consulate in Los Angeles, across the border in Mexico, and one homicide investigation in London that may brought even more notice since it involved two luminaries of the British theatre.

All of which would have thrust Lt. Columbo into the spotlight, first as part of the news cycle and then into the TV show which apparently was made about him and which also starred the actor Peter Falk.

Perhaps his exploits as a homicide detective would have interested a book publisher (except for Riley Greenleaf, of course!) It's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that since the Lieutenant must surely have retired since we saw him last on the small screen, that his story has been published as a biography going into great detail about his most prominent cases. (And I think Martin Ross would agree with me that "Just One More Thing" would be a good title for this book!)

If so, I think Erica Flynn, who operated a very profitable match-making service with her husband, not only read such a book, but also used it as a "Blueprint For Murder" (Tee to the Hee!) in the slaying of her husband in that aforementioned episode of 'The Mentalist'.

(Sure, she could also have picked up the idea from the TV show that apparently was made in Toobworld about 'Columbo' - mentioned in such shows as 'NCIS', 'Sanford & Son' and 'Are You Being Served?' But I prefer the literary route.....)

She would have found her inspiration in the chapter about Dr. Bart Kepple. (Perhaps that chapter title might be the same as the TV series episode - "Double Exposure".) Kepple made motivational films, often using subliminal cuts, and sometimes he resorted to blackmailing his clients. When one of those clients balked and threatened to ruin him, Kepple murdered him. (And also murdered a poor schlub of a film projectionist who had figured it out and threatened to blackmail him.)

But Kepple made it look like he was onstage narrating the latest film when the client got shot. If she had read about this case, Erica Flynn may have adapted this idea for her own purposes: While a match-making client thought that Erica was in the engineer's sound booth asking her questions for a profile video, it was actually Erica's besotted assistant in the booth, using a recorder with her pre-taped questions. Meanwhile, Erica went to the marina and gunned down her husband.

She would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids - er, if it wasn't for 'The Mentalist', Patrick Jane. The CBI consultant knew just from watching the cool, self-satisfied way in which Erica applied her lipstick, after being questioned by CBI agent Kimball Cho, that she was guilty of killing her husband. But despite his track record in solving cases by how he could "read" the guilty parties, that was never going to be allowed in court as evidence against her. Jane was going to need proof.

Now, the thing about this alleged book about Lt. Columbo is that Erica Flynn wouldn't be the only person to have read it. And an investigator like Columbo would probably be of interest to someone like Patrick Jane, because of the way the Lieutenant could "read" his suspects and then play them, string them along until he nailed them for the murder.

Now, sometimes, Columbo had to wait until the evidence led him to his prime suspect. (Two of the best examples of this would be the murder investigations cod-named "Identity Crisis" and "Mind Over Mayhem".) But there were times when it could only be chalked up to an intuitive sense of reading a person that allowed Columbo to zero in on somebody right away without worrying about evidence. (It's the only way to excuse sloppy script-writing for an episode like "Murder With Too Many Notes".)

So a detective like that would be of interest to Jane and he might have read this biography of Columbo at some point off-screen, away from our prying eyes - either up in the loft or right there on the couch in the office.

So if this book about Columbo existed, and if Patrick Jane read it, he may have remembered that "Double Exposure" case from which Erica Flynn cribbed the method of murder. And having done so, it may have put him in mind to remember some of the ways Columbo had to resort to tricking his suspects into either confessing to the crime, or in some way proving their own guilt.

Among those ways - threatening to arrest the child of the killer ("Mind Over Mayhem", "An Old-Fashioned Murder"), goading them into showing off ("The Bye-Bye Sky-High IQ Murder Case" - one of the worst 'Columbo' episode titles ever!), goading them into revealing details only the killer would know or be responsible for ("Suitable For Framing", "A Deadly State Of Mind"), goading them into trying to kill him ("Murder Under Glass", "How To Dial A Murder"), and making the killer think he had found an important clue ("Short Fuse", "Double Exposure", "Requiem For A Falling Star", "Negative Reaction", "Death Lends A Hand", "Any Old Port In The Storm").

But it looks like Patrick Jane found his inspiration in what may have been the first case Columbo ever solved once he became a lieutenant - what came to be known as "Prescription: Murder".

(This case may have been fictionalized by the mystery writing team of Ken Franklin and Jim Ferris for their "Mrs. Melville" series of novels. As such, this could be the book in which Patrick Jane found his inspiration. Ironically, Columbo would come to have an even more personal connection to the writing team when Franklin murdered his partner Ferris.)

In the "Prescription: Murder" case, Dr. Ray Flemming murdered his wife and made it look like a burglary. His alibi was that he was on a trip to Mexico and it all hinged on a collaborator - a young actress who was not only his patient, but also his mistress.

This actress was fragile of mind and eventually Lt. Columbo had to break the news to Dr. Flemming that she had killed herself, probably because of the pressures brought on by the murder investigation. Feeling smug and secure by this unexpected turn of events, Dr. Flemming practically boasted that he never had feelings for her and that she was merely a useful tool.

And that's when this supposedly dead young woman stepped out from where she was hiding, now aware of the Truth and ready to testify against the good doctor.

So this is the trick that Jane pulled on Erica Flynn - making her think that her delusional assistant who was in love with her had taken his own life. And feeling superior to the CBI consultant, she also sneered that she never really loved the young man.

And abra cadabra, he's no longer a cadaver! (Paraphrasing a line from David Addison of the Moonlight Detective Agency.....)

There are no new plots in the world, just variations on what has come before. But if you're going to lift a plotline, make sure you take it from the very best. Levinson & Link, the creators of 'Columbo', knew this - so they stole from themselves! They took the best murder scenario ever on 'Burke's Law' (magician sealed in coffin at bottom of a pool is shot dead) and adapted it for 'Blacke's Magic' before it reappeared in an episode of the 'Burke's Law' sequel in the early 1990's. (The fact that he never remembered the original solution was the "proof" for my argument that Amos Burke was entering the early stages of Alzheimer's.)

So I tip my hat to the writer of this episode of 'The Mentalist' if he did knowingly lift those two plotlines from 'Columbo'. He O'Bviously appreciates the good stuff. And if it was just a coincidence, then great minds do think alike.

SHOWS CITED:

'The Mentalist'
'Columbo'
'Burke's Law'
'Monk'
'Blacke's Magic'
'Moonlighting'
'NCIS'
'Are You Being Served?'
'Sanford & Son'

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THE SUPER SIX LIST: NEVER-WAS TV

I was reading about how the never-finished 'Doctor Who' story "Shada" by the late Douglas Adams is being re-worked to be a novel, with the blessings of the Adams estate. And it got me thinking about some other TV show episodes that, for one reason or another, never were completed......

So I've put together a Super Six List of the more interesting examples, starting with the oldest one I could find:

1] 'BONANZA' In "The Ponderosa Birdman", Buster Keaton was scheduled to portray crackpot inventor Phineas T. Klump back in 1965. That was the one where Hoss Cartwright was supposed to be the guinea pig for an experimental flying device.

But Keaton raised too many objections about the script. He felt that his character should be the one to test the device out; that he could come up with some funny routines based on his old silent movie material. But as the producers pointed out, they needed the participation of one of the Cartwrights, or it wouldn't be a 'Bonanza' episode.

So then Keaton suggested that Little Joe would be the more logical since Michael Landon was smaller and lighter. Keaton tried to put a polite spin to it by saying that Dan Blocker was not "aerodynamically sound".

Again, the producers stepped in saying that the image of Hoss with wings would be funnier, but Keaton insisted that the basis of humor needed believability, and that a fat man with wings was not funny, just stupid. It was all the stage-hands could do to keep Dan Blocker from tackling Buster Keaton.

Ultimately, Keaton was paid off and let go. The producers brought in Ed Wynn to play Klump. (Coincidentally, Wynn had visited the set just a few days earlier to see his old friend.) Keaton never held a grudge about it and went off to make a few "Beach Blanket" movies instead.

2] 'COLUMBO'

While in England during the summer of 1972 to film establishing location shots for "Dagger Of The Mind" later that year, Peter Falk was introduced to Sir Laurence Olivier. Sir Larry let the star of 'Columbo' know that he would be delighted to get the opportunity to play a murderer on the American detective series. Eager to land the "Master Thespian" for a guest spot, the script for "Greenhouse Jungle" was hastily written with Olivier in mind to play Jarvis Goodland. Unfortunately, a computer glitch caused problems for Olivier in securing a work visa in time for the shooting schedule. Since Falk had worked with Ray Milland previously in the episode "Death Lends A Hand", he was brought in to play the role instead. It was a rush job, evident in Milland's performance, and was put on the schedule ahead of "Dagger Of The Mind".Sadly, the opportunity for Peter Falk to work with Laurence Olivier on 'Columbo' never presented itself again.

3] 'SOAP'

Halfway through the first season of 'Soap', producer Susan Harris made inquiries to Jackie Gleason's people to see if he would be open to the idea of playing a character on the soap opera spoof. It would have been nothing elaborate - she knew Gleason's reputation for wanting it all done in one take - and would have just been a recurring role leading up to the season finale cliff-hanger. Ms. Harris had it in mind for "The Great One" to play Judge Petrillo, who would preside over the murder trial for Jessica Tate. But Gleason was only interested in doing a cameo, as his own character of Reggie Van Gleason, and he wanted Witt/Thomas/Harris to bring the production down to Miami.

Susan Harris realized it would have been more trouble than it was worth, so the offer was withdrawn. Eventually Charles Lane was hired to play the role of Judge Petrillo.

(Rumor has it that Gleason was hoping to revive interest in Reggie Van Gleason for his own show. He thought the time was right, since there was so much fascination with the rich in the prime-time soaps, to use Reggie {his own personal favorite character} to mock the genre.)

4] 'SABRINA THE TEEN-AGE WITCH'

Salem Saberhagen was a sorcerer who was serving a term of punishment by being transformed into a black cat. For the most part, his time on 'Sabrina The Teen-age Witch' was spent tossing off one-liners from the sidelines.

Voiced by Nick Bakay, Salem was supposed to get his own spin-off series. But the pilot didn't test well with the research audiences. Remembering the ratings debacle of the pilot for 'Toonces, The Cat Who Could Drive A Car', the network didn't want to risk burning off the pilot by airing it and thus harming the character's potential on the parent series.

Instead, they killed the project and quietly re-edited certain scenes back into the 'Sabrina' series as a cost-cutting measure.

 

5] 'LEVERAGE'

During the first season of the con man series on TNT, a very special script was written for a very special guest - Patrick McGoohan. "The Six Days Of Christmas Job" was about a shopping mall Santa Claus who was targeted for murder and who may have been a spy but who retired from the business long ago.
  

The script was full of references to McGoohan's career - the action took place at the Village Mall, where the Santa had been hired by the firm's "Number Two"; the activity area for children had a giant inflatable white ball; and McGoohan's character's name was supposedly "Drake Rafferty". There would have been a variation on his famous "I am not a number; I'm a free man!" speech, and even the title of the episode carried a reference to his character from 'The Prisoner'.

(By the end, it would still remain a possibility that McGoohan was appearing as Number Six. But as was the case in never identifying Number Six as John Drake of 'Danger Man'/'Secret Agent', it was deliberately left vague to avoid paying a license fee.) Unfortunately, McGoohan was only around long enough to be fitted for a costume and pose for a few publicity photos before he took ill. He died in January of 2009. The producers later took that script and reworked it for a 2010 episode, "The Ho Ho Ho Job".

6] 'SUPERNATURAL'

Earlier this year, an over-zealous writer and associate producer for the CW series 'Supernatural' had an idea for an episode that continued the meta humor standard set by earlier episodes "Changing Channels" and "The French Mistake". This time, he was hoping to develop a script in which the Winchester boys were given advice by a witch as they tried to save her grand-daughter and stop a hostile take-over of the Witches' Council.

And it wouldn't have been just any witch, but the most famous witch in all of TV Land. Samantha Stephens!

Astute readers of this blog will know that Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress who played Sam on 'Bewitched', passed away nearly sixteen years ago. Not that this writer saw that as a deterrent - apparently he previously worked on the 1990's HBO comedy series 'Dream On' which used clips from old Universal TV shows.  He was planning to use selected scenes from 'Bewitched' which would contain appropriate dialogue from the character of Samantha Stephens for "conversations" with Sam and Dean. (A recurring joke would have been for both Samantha and Sam to reply "Yes?" whenever Dean said "Sam".)

It appears he certainly did his home-work.  The plan was to utilize a plot point from the sitcom - that when a witch was close to death or losing her powers, she had to transform herself into something that would continue to be useful. Witches of 'Bewitched' had been transformed into objects before - chairs, bedpans.... (I once suggested that the house of Bartlett Finchley in 'The Twilight Zone' episode "A Thing About Machines" was full of objects that were actually transformed witches.)

The premise was established in a 'Bewitched' episode, "The Corn Is As High As A Guernsey's Eye", where Aunt Clara's powers were waning and she felt the time was right to follow the mandate to transform. (Samantha thought she then turned herself into a cow.)

In the proposed script outline for 'Supernatural', Samantha Stephens had become too ill for even Dr. Bombay to cure. And so at some point after the series ended, she tearfully said good-bye to her family and then used her powers to transform herself into something useful.

A television's remote control.

Sam and Dean Winchester confer with Samantha Stephens on their TV

And it was a universal remote, able to work on any TV. That way, she could "stay on the move" and be seen on any TV set, and the producer could also use black and white footage from the early years on a black and white TV.
 
See, Samantha was smart - she saw this as a way to remain in contact with her family there in Westport, Connecticut. But somehow the remote control was stolen and Sam Winchester eventually came into its possession. And with Samantha's help, as she popped up on whatever video monitor was nearby, Sam and Dean would be able to put down a plot against the Witches' Council and rescue Samantha's grand-daughter. (The character's name was Lizbeth as a tip of the hat to Elizabeth Montgomery. But apparently it was Elspeth in an early draft.)

The twist to the episode was that it turned out Lizbeth was the mastermind behind the plot against the Witches' Council. In order to protect her from a more serious fate, Samantha and Tabitha had no choice but to punish her with transformation - into a framed photograph of herself. (My source tells me that in the script, Tabitha explained that they didn't make the same choice as Samantha did because Lizbeth was being punished - and that meant no TV privileges. Also, Dean mutters as they leave that it was creepy the way her eyes followed him across the room.)

My source for this information also said that the original script called for her to be transformed into a bowling ball so that she could still be part of the family routine of bowling night. [Tabitha married a mortal - like mother, like daughter.] But then the writer realized Dad would be sticking his finger in the holes. It was bad enough that Sam Winchester was always fingering Samantha's buttons on the remote.....

The writer was so confident that the script would work that he contacted Sony Pictures on his own for permission to use the clips. He even put together a demo film of Sam and Dean "talking" with Samantha, using the two lighting stand-ins for Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as substitutes to play the Winchesters in the scene. He also hired the actress he had in mind for playing Lizbeth. (I recognized her from the very grainy bootleg I saw - it's either Keri Lynn Pratt or Kirsten Prout. I'm always getting those two confused.)

But he didn't run the idea by the executive producers of 'Supernatural' first. So they were blind-sided when Robert Foxworth and Elizabeth Montgomery's family approached show creator Eric Kripke personally to lodge a complaint against the idea.

I'd tell you the name of this writer, but he was fired over the incident and I don't want to embarrass him even further. Besides, I'm sure you can look through the credits of the series on IMDb and see which writer/producer is no longer attached to the show.

The funny thing was, Sony Pictures was keen on the idea. (They also okayed the appearance of Bernard Fox as Dr. Bombay on 'Passions' during the 35th anniversary of 'Bewitched'.) And it looks like Fox and Erin Murphy (as Tabitha) would have been available to make cameos as their characters. But the protests by Ms. Montgomery's loved ones would have been publicity they just didn't need.  
So those are my choices for the top six TV show episodes that never saw the light of the broadcasting day.....

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THE SPIRIT OF TELEVISION

The networks rarely get super-heroes right for Toobworld. Currently, 'Smallville' is counting down through its final season and it's been highly successful..... Too bad it's set in the 'West Wing' TV dimension and not the main Toobworld. But Earth Prime-Time did have 'The Adventures of Superman' and that wasn't too shabby. 'Batman' was pretty good too. And for all its flaws, 'The Tick' was a lot of fun. ('Lois & Clark' was okay, but like 'Smallville', it was in another dimension.)

But for those few successes, there have been others like 'Once A Hero', 'Captain Nice', 'Mr. Terrific', 'Night Man', and on and on. And currently? 'The Cape'.

TV tried to make a TV hero out of Will Eisner's comic book hero The Spirit, but it's got the riff of cheesy 80's TV all about it. Even so, like most of those other TV comic book heroes, The Spirit is part of the main Toobworld.

Here's the first chapter of the TV movie pilot. It'll be up to you if you want to continue on and watch the whole thing.....

Up, up, and away!

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HANGING OUT THE SHINGLE IN TWO DIMENSIONS

I've added 'Harry's Law' to my DVR queue on Monday nights, probably the most over-packed night of programming for Toobworld Central. But I'm a big fan of the David E. Kelley style of quirk and so far I'm enjoying what 'Harry's Law' is contributing to the televersion of Cincinnati.

The series is only two episodes old, but did you know it already exists in an alternate TV dimension?

First, take a look at this overview of the series, provided by NBC:

In the pilot episode that was aired, the opening scene - with Harry getting fired from a high-profile law firm where she dealt in patent law - featured voice-over narration by Harriet Korn. Later, she worked with the nerdy young lawyer who struck her down with his car. Adam Branch was played by Nate Corddry.

You don't find that in the alternate TV dimension.....

Right off the bat, the most notable difference missing from the pilot that was aired is the Woody Woodpecker cartoon. Instead we got a clip from a Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon. (Maybe 'Harry's Law' is a Warner Brothers production?)

But there were two key casting changes as well. Adam Branch started out as an older British lawyer, played by Ben Chaplin. The word on him being dropped was that it wasn't a good fit between the actor and the character. And Harry's boss at the old law firm was changed too, most noticeably follicle-wise. I have no clue who that actor was playing the role originally, but Ivar Brogger is the official version now in the main Toobworld. BCnU!

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ROOSTER COGBURN THE THIRD

The nominations for the Academy Awards were announced yesterday morning, and one that "caught my eye" (t'hee) was for Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn in the Coen Brothers' remake of "True Grit".

I saw the movie and thought he was fantastic in the role. But I don't think he stands much of a chance for winning this year, for a couple of reasons.

1) He just won last year for "Crazy Heart".

2) This will be Colin Firth's year, for his role in "The King's Speech".

I'm not sure the fact that John Wayne had already won the Oscar for the same role back in 1969 would be a factor against him. It wouldn't be the first time two actors have won for playing the same role. I can't say it happened before the early 1970's without doing the research - and I'm too lazy today! - but Marlon Brando and Robert De Niro both won Oscars for playing Don Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part Two" respectively. (De Niro's was for Best Supporting Actor.)

But even though this is more relevant for a movie blog, I'm bringing it up because Rooster Cogburn is a TV character as well. In fact, he's a true multiversal, since there's also the source material - Charles' Portis' novel "True Grit".

A pilot for 'True Grit' was made in 1978, with Warren Oates in the role of Rooster Cogburn. Just the year before he also stepped into the shoes of Humphrey Bogart as Charlie Allnut in a TV movie/pilot for "The African Queen" (with Mariette Hartley, I believe).

I've looked around the internet for images or videos of Warren Oates as Rooster Cogburn, but finally realized I'd have to make my own. (The pilot may be available form a bootlegger, but I've yet to bother with looking for one. Again, Toby = Lazy.)

So here's my quickie attempt at a picture of Warren Oates as he might have looked in the role of Rooster Cogburn. It took all of three minutes to slap it together....
I suppose it could have come out better had I spent some time on it, but have I mentioned that I'm lazy?

BCnU!

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THE "POLICE SQUAD" PILOT (IN COLOR)

Leslie Nielsen will always be remembered for his comic turns in "Airplane!" and as Lt. Frank Drebin in the quickly cancelled 'Police Squad' TV series and the more successful "Naked Gun" movies, the film franchise following that TV show. That combination veered his career into comedy immortality.

To see how whacked this man could be, who was better known a solid succession of somewhat dull supporting roles before 1980, here's the first episode of 'Police Squad'.......

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Tele-trivia tidbit: the episode's guest star, Lorne Greene, was Canadian like Nielsen and in fact was Nielsen's acting coach back in the Great White North.....

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WISH-CRAFT: CASTING JIM ANTHONY

I recently read a fun neo-pulp novel, "Jim Anthony, Super Detective: The Hunters" (by Josh Reynolds and Micah S. Harris), which resurrected an action hero from public domain and then had him interact with other established characters from classic sources in a two-part story that made for a thematic whole.

Jim Anthony was a Nietzschean uber-man in the mold of Doc Savage. (I believe Anthony was created to cash in on the popularity of "the Man of Bronze".) He was half-Irish, half-Comanche, the perfect combination of muscle and brain.

In the first half of the novel, written by Reynolds, Jim Anthony teamed up with Count Zaroff, the mad Russian from the famous short story "The Most Dangerous Game", on a hunt for the Yeti in the skyscraper canyons of 1931 Manhattan. The story also included Jules Verne's Baltimore Gun Club and a character from 1890's horror fiction, the King in Yellow.

Part Two, written by Harris, teams up Anthony and Zaroff again; this time they embark on a trip to hunt dinosaurs (maybe some more... challenging prey) and their paths intersect with the passengers and crew of the Venture who are on their way to Skull Island to film a movie. All of them come into contact with a certain over-sized primate who will become "The Eighth Wonder Of The World".

I'm thinking Jim Anthony would make for a great TV series, one in the style of those action-adventure syndicated shows of the 1990's, like 'Hercules: The Legendary Journeys', 'Jack Of All Trades', and 'The Lost World'. And "Jim Anthony, Super Detective: The Hunters" would be the perfect base for not only launching the series (the book's Part One), but to also provide a two-part season finale (the book's Part Two).

Taking a cue from the authors, some of the characters would have to have their names hidden in aliases as they would still be under some copyright protection (particularly Carl Denham and Ann Darrow, and especially His Nibs, King Kong.) But otherwise, both of the tales would make for rousing book-ends to a syndicated series about this 1930's "super man" (the home-grown variety).

I've even given some thought to casting, but only for the three main characters - the hero, his side-kick, and the special guest star to help sell the series.

First up....

JIM ANTHONY
The "Super Detective" has to be more than just muscular. (He's going to have his shirt ripped off quite frequently.) He'll also need to be deft at light comedy and romantic situations. (Unlike Doc Savage, Anthony delved into amorous adventures, something that probably sold more copies of his stories to the teen boys of that time.)

So here's my choice for the role: Ryan McPartlin. There's a reason McPartlin's role as Devon on NBC's 'Chuck' is nicknamed "Captain Awesome". He just is. He's got the build and the humor which would be needed for Jim Anthony. And in an episode of 'Mad Men', which was set about forty-five years ago, he was at home acting in a period piece. Pushing it all back another thirty years or more doesn't appear to be beyond his ken.

As it is with most TV show pilots, a name guest star is usually brought in to help sell the concept so that it goes to series. That guest star is usually taken out of the equation (or replaced by a cheaper actor) when the show is picked up for production on a weekly basis.

In the case of a show about Jim Anthony, that character would be:

COUNT ZAROFF
The Russian nobleman and fantatical hunstman needs an actor who exudes the strength of will and power of personality to make him more than a match for Anthony. Even though he'd be older, you can tell just by looking into his eyes that Zaroff could give the "super detective" a worthy opponent - once they no longer were allies, that is.

And it seems to be customary/tradition that such a character have a British accent, no matter what country (or planet) they may be from. If I was casting the role of Count Zaroff, there's only one man out there today whom I think can fit the bill: Timothy Dalton. Just look at how Stalinesque he appears in this publicity still from "The Beautician And The Beast". Those piercing eyes offer up the threat and enticement of danger, but he could also be suave and charming to the ladies (although Jim Anthony would probably succeed more often.)

Being the big name guest star, Dalton would only be needed for the pilot episode and then a final, return appearance in the two-part finale that would mostly take place on Skull Island. (A trip to Hawaii to use old 'Lost' locations would be in order. I'm sure Dalton would be amenable to a working vacation in Hawaii.....)

The only other character I'd want to cast at present would be Jim Anthony's side-kick/assistant:

TOM GENTRY
According to "Jim Anthony, Super Detective: The Hunters", Tom is a big, beefy Irishman always there with a gat or a getaway. And this is how he was portrayed in the original stories back in the 30's.

But I think I'd want to go a different route in the visualization of Tom Gentry for any proposed TV series. You get another big muscular guy onscreen working with Jim Anthony, then you dilute the image of strength that should be Anthony's showcase.

I think Tom should be of a slighter build; he shouldn't be as brainy as Anthony either - more smart-aleck than smart, always ready with a quip. I see Tom as the guy who serves as Anthony's driver, the go-to guy to check out potential clues, and the tech wizard who builds the gizmos and gadgets that Jim Anthony dreams up.

Tom is supposed to be Irish, but I think we could ease back on this as well. If even the slightest hint of an accent, his ancestry should be more a suggestion. (Fiona is supposed to be Irish on 'Burn Notice', but would you have wanted to hear that accent she was sporting in the pilot through the run of the series?)
Here's how I envision the basic character of Tom Gentry. (A big Toobworld thanks to my friend Ray Amell for this picture of him at this summer's 1920's jazz lawn party in NYC.)

I'm thinking Kyle Howard, pictured below (most recently seen in 'My Boys'), has the look needed for this version of Tom Gentry. Seeing him next to Ryan McPartlin as Jim Anthony would make for an interesting contrast with this dynamic duo. I just wish I had a picture of the two of them next to each other to illustrate how great I think they would be together as Jim Anthony and Tom Gentry. (They both worked in episodes of "What I Like About You", but not together. McPartlin and Dalton both worked with Fran Drescher, but again, not on the same project.)

Those would be my big three for the casting on any proposed series based on "Jim Anthony, Super Detective". (I just wish the character had a more distinctive last name, but it's worked for the last eighty years so......) As for the casting of the other guest stars - from the King in Yellow to Ann Darrow - I'd leave that with the casting agents hired for the production. Whether the show was filmed in the States, or Vancouver, or New Zealand, (or even Cardiff - they know how to make their facilities look like anywhere in the world... and beyond!), I know they'd find the best talent available out there.......

BCnU!

[This was the 5600th post for Inner Toob!]

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FAREWELL TO HOWARD CUNNINGHAM(S)

As I collect the names of those with connections to Toobworld who have passed away each year, the connections between them are sometimes eerie. For instance, the year when Jack Wild and Lennie Weinrib, both of 'H.R. Pufnstuf', passed away. Or when Richard Widmark and Abby Mann, both attached to the movie "Judgement at Nuremberg", died a day apart.

Today we lost actor Tom Bosley. Of all his roles in television, movies, and the stage, he is best known for playing Howard Cunningham in 'Happy Days'. Mr. C was the patriarch of a Milwaukee family in the 1950's, but Bosley wasn't the first to play the role.

On 'Love, American Style', Harold Gould played the father of Richie Cunningham in a segment called "Love And The Happy Days", which served as a backdoor pilot for the series. (Because of the nature of that show, that version of Howard Cunningham exists in the TV dimension Skitlandia.)

A month ago, Harold Gould passed away. So in just over thirty days we've lost both men who played Howard Cunningham.

Good night and may God bless, gentlemen.....

I'll have more on Tom Bosley over the next few days.

BCnU.....

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NEW TOOB REVIEW: THE "FIVE-O" REBOOT

I wrote a lengthy comment for MediumRob's review of 'Hawaii Five-O' while apartment-sitting, using a really crappy keyboard. It was a chore. So I'm not inclined to rewrite it again for Inner Toob.

Here it is again, with the proviso that you should visit Rob's site "The Medium Is Not Enough". The link is to the left.

The Toobworld take on 'Hawaii Five-O':

For me, the Stupid was best exemplified by the coincidence of Chin Ho Kelly just happening to run a curio shop right where he could witness the meeting between McGarrett and the Governor - a guy who just happens to have a personal connection to McGarrett with a back-story that luckily makes him useful to the plot.....

It's not that I saw it all as sacrilege; I just didn't see the point in remaking the original. Why not instead honor the original and build off of it with a continuation? Show us the Five-0 department thirty years later with all new characters. It's a premise that certainly worked with 'Star Trek'. (At least the movie "Maverick" was able to have it both ways.)

Another argument for continuation rather than remake: As with 'Star Trek', there was a rich history of old plots, with some of those same guest stars still alive, which could have been resurrected for the new team to revisit.

I watched the pilot and found it to be mindless fun. I liked the characters a lot (and agreed with the early reports that Scott Caan was stealing every scene he had with O'Loughlin.) But I saw nothing that said O'Loughlin HAD to be McGarrett, or Caan the new Danno. Why couldn't Daniel Dae Kim have been Chin Ho Kelly Jr., which would have been an excellent way to keep the original series' memory alive in the cast rather than erasing the originals and starting over. (To me, using the characters' names again is just lazy.)

I liked the recasting of gender for Kono, but then Grace in a bikini would have sold me on just about anything to do with the character.

It's been reported that James MacArthur is coming on board in a guest spot. So I think it would have been more interesting to see him return as the original Dann-O rather than as this Danno's father, or whatever he's slated to play.

But like I said, I did enjoy it. I just don't see why it had to be this way. It's not even like today's audiences are invested in the original characters that these actors couldn't be anybody else but.

There's only reason I can see why they felt the need to re-use the original character names - just for the chance to say "Book 'em, Danno." And even that was played out badly, almost as a spoof. If anything, that only brought back memories of the original than feel like a fresh take.

But since this is the way they're going, why not take it a step further? Bring back Wo Fat. Get the guy who played Dogen in the last season of 'Lost' to play the role.

Yeah, I am looking at it all from a Toobworld point of view, but I think it's still a valid argument.....

BCnU!

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MORE TELE-ZOMBIES!

Yesterday I stated that there couldn't be any shows that might link to the upcoming AMC series 'The Walking Dead'. Turns out that I may be wrong. (Horrors! When has THAT ever happened here?)

Here's a press release for 'Zeroes':

"Zeroes" follows the "Zombie Extermination and Removal Operations," which must figure out how to keep the peace after zombies overcome the barrier preventing them from entering the city.

Their paths may never cross, but I would think that both shows operate in the same TV dimension.

And there's a third pozz'bility - if you want to include unsold pilots. Back in 2007, Amber Tamblyn and Kathy Baker were slated to star in 'Bablyon Fields', a small-town crime drama that just happened to also be about zombies. (And apparently, living humans were going to be able to have sex with the undead. Ewwwww.) CBS didn't pick up the option on that show.

If you want to include 'Babylon Fields' in the timeline for that TV dimension, then it was probably early in the stages of the rampant zombie-ism that seems to have taken hold in 'The Walking Dead'.

BCnU!

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ZOMBIE TV

The new TV season hasn't even started yet and already I know there's one series that can't be part of Earth Prime-Time, the main Toobworld - 'The Walking Dead'.

This will have to be a TV dimension with no real future nor any hope to ever link to other TV shows. It's more of an Earth Prime-Time/Romero, if you will.

What would be fun, just to lighten what looks to be unceasing horror and doom, would be to see zombie versions of TV characters from the main Toobworld. And it might be nice to get the original actors to take on the roles as cameos along the lines of Bill Murray's appearance in the movie "Zombieland".

Here are a few examples, depending on where 'The Walking Dead' takes place:

Vic Mackey, 'The Shield' (Michael Chiklis)
Alex Rieger, 'Taxi' (Judd Hirsch)
James Trivette 'Walker, Texas Ranger' (Clarence Gilyard, Jr.)
Rose Nylund, 'The Golden Girls' (Betty White)

I'd LOVE to see the curvaceous Christina Hendricks of 'Mad Men' as a zombie, but Joan Harris would be about 80 years old today.......

Anyhoo, I'll check out the first episode of the series at least, but I'm not sure it's a show I want to keep coming back for. No matter how good it is, the topic isn't one I'm that fond of; and as a Toobworld caretaker, there doesn't seem to be anything in it for me.

But for your perusal, here are a few of the promo pictures for the show:

BCnU!

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TVXOHOF, 08/2010: HOBY GILMAN

The August edition of the TV Crossover Hall of Fame is running late because I didn't wat it to get lost in the middle of the 'Maverick' marathon of posts that ran during my two weeks of vacation. So now we can give our honoree the attention he deserves.....

With July and August, TV Western characters are inducted into the TVXOHOF, one who is an historical figure and the other found only in Toobworld.

In July, Cochise was added to this special tribe, and that took care of the historical character, with Michael Ansara's portrayal being the official representation. In memory of Robert Culp, the latest member of the Hall of Fame is Hoby Gilman, Texas Ranger.

Ranger Hoby Gilman had his own series, 'Trackdown'. But he was first introduced in the "Badge Of Honor" episode of 'Zane Grey Theater". In one of those 'Trackdown' episodes, Hoby crossed paths with Josh Randall, thus introducing the real world to Steve McQueen's bounty hunter. Randall would go on to have his own series, 'Wanted: Dead Or Alive'. A nominee for the TV Crossover Hall of Fame needs to have connections to three different TV showcases - and that includes commercials, cartoons, TV movies, etc. So Hoby Gilman has all three - his own series; his pilot launched from another series; and his show launching another series.

This would be enough for any TV character, but Hoby Gilman wasn't finished. He was mentioned on a fourth series, 'I Spy'. In one episode, Kelly Robinson was showing off his dexterity in twirling his gun - which prompted his partner Alexander Scott to chastise him with "Hoby, Hoby, Hoby...."

This would an in-joke on the part of the episode writer, everywhere but Toobworld Central. Here, it's a reference to the "historical" character of the Texas Ranger.

Both Kelly and Scott understood the significance of that reference and here's why: at some point unseen by the Trueniverse audience, Kelly must have told Scott about his great-grandfather*, the Texas Ranger named Hoby Gilman. And in keeping with Toobworld tradition, in which tele-genetics can be so strong that they can be passed down exactly through the generations, Hoby and Kelly looked exactly the same.

And with that, Hoby Gilman is more than qualified to join the Maverick brothers, Cheyenne Bodie, and Hec Ramsey (aka Paladin) and many other TV Western characters in the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.

Welcome aboard, Hoby, from Toby! BCnU

* Hoby was young enough that he could have been Kelly Robinson's grandfather.....

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