FROSTBITE FALLS @ FIFTY

When I inducted 'Rocky & Bullwinkle' into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame on the 16th, I had no clue that they would be celebrating their 50th anniversary three days later.

And on Thursday, my copy of the book about June Foray arrived.

All in a day's serendipiteevee!

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: ALICE LIDDELL HARGREAVES

ALICE LIDDELL HARGREAVES

AS SEEN IN:
"Riverworld"

AS PLAYED BY:
Emily Lloyd
Alice Pleasance Liddell (4 May 1852 – 16 November 1934), known for most of her adult life by her married name, Alice Hargreaves, inspired the children's classic Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Several later writers have written fictional accounts of Liddell. She is one of the main characters of the Riverworld series of books, by Philip José Farmer.
[from Wikipedia]

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AS SEEN ON TV: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (PART II)

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

AS SEEN IN:
'The Murdoch Mysteries'

AS PLAYED BY:
Geraint Wyn Davies

I set up this morning's post about Conan Doyle several days ago as I was going on a trip until today. I took with me another disk of episodes from 'The Murdoch Mysteries' and discovered that Conan Doyle made a return trip to the series later that first season.

Apparently, after going on his lecture tour through the American Midwest after his last visit to Toronto, Conan Doyle had returned in order to find a practitioner of the Oriental treatment for consumption known as "cupping". Because his quest proved to be futile, the "literary agent" of Dr. Watson went on a bender and ended up in the drunk tank with a "belly talker" who was being held on suspicion of murder.
Louise Conan Doyle was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1893 and was only give a few months to live. As it turned out, she lasted until 1906.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

AS SEEN IN:
'The Murdoch Mysteries'

AS PLAYED BY:
Geraint Wyn Davies

My life is gliding downwards; it speeds swifter to the day
When it shoots the last dark Canyon to the Plains of Far-away,
But while its stream is running through the years that are to be,
The mighty voice of Canada will ever call to me.
-from "The Athabasca Trail"
by Arthur Conan Doyle, 1914

Arthur Conan Doyle had a fondness for Canada that was apparent in the many positive things he had to say about our country’s natural beauty, social and economic potential, and key role in the British Commonwealth. Conan Doyle visited Canada on four occasions. The first visit in 1894 was part of a literary tour; the 1914 trip was a pleasure tour organized by the Canadian Government to promote western tourism, and the visits he made in 1922 and 1923 were chiefly part of his efforts to promote the Spiritualist cause.
(from the Toronto Public Library's celebration of the works of Conan Doyle)

Conan Doyle's involvement with a murder case in an episode of 'The Murdoch Mysteries' would thus have to place "Elementary, My Dear Murdoch" in 1894.

"If you’re in Toronto, please also visit the Arthur Conan Doyle Room on the 5th Floor of the Toronto Reference Library, where you can pull up a comfortable chair and read some of the works shown here. The room is open from 2 to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, or by appointment."

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AS SEEN ON TV: ULI DERICKSON

ULI DERICKSON

AS SEEN IN:
"The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Lindsay Wagner

Here is Hal Erickson's capsule synopsis of the historical event and the TV movie inspired by it:

In June of 1985, TWA Athens-to-Rome flight 847 was seized by two fanatical, grenade-wielding Hezbollah Moslems. The hijacking was dragged out for 17 days, during which time several of the terrified passengers were beaten and one was killed. Written by Norman Morrill, the made-for-TV The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson stars Lindsay Wagner as courageous American purser Uli Derickson, whose knowledge of German enables her to communicate with the chief hijacker, a Shiite Lebanese who calls himself Castro (Eli Danker). When the ordeal was over, Derickson was credited with saving many lives and preventing the crisis from becoming far worse than it already was. It is a tribute to Lindsay Wagner's acting talent that, although most of the film's dialogue is spoken in German, the audience never has any difficulty following the story. The Taking of Flight 847 first aired May 2, 1988.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

I'm running this ASOTV today in tribute to the film's director, Paul Wendkos, who passed away just the other day.....

BCnU!

IN THE VILLAGE WITH XTC

For those of you enjoying the new version of 'The Prisoner', or who are longing for the good old days set in the original Village, here are two music videos from XTC. Over twenty years old and twenty years older than the original series.....

The Meeting Place


The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul


My very special thanks to fellow Iddiot Brian Leonard for pointing these out to me!

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AS SEEN ON TV: PAT ALLANSON

PAT ALLANSON

AS SEEN IN:
"Everything She Ever Wanted"

AS PLAYED BY:
Gina Gershon

Here's a description of Pat Allanson's story by Linda Stasi of the New York Post:

The story begins right after divorcee Pat hooks up with and marries a younger man, Tom Allanson (Ryan McPartlin), who'd just left his wife and child for the sexed-up Pat.

Because Tom's father, Walter (Victor Garber), is the richest lawyer in their small Southern town, larcenous, lascivious Pat figures she's finally hit the big time and is determined to live like Scarlett O'Hara.

Pat, who seemingly doesn't have a good or kind bone in her body, right off gets into it with Tom's father and then goads the younger Allanson into violence against the mean older man, going so far as to say that the elder Allanson tried to rape her.

During a summer holiday town picnic, Pat drags Tom into their truck to have sex in the parking lot, and then Tom goes to his parents' house, even though his father said publicly that he wants to kill the son, and ends up killing his father and his mother. But no money's forthcoming, so in a very short time, Tom's loving grandparents who helped Tom and Pat buy their dream plantation, get horribly sick (arsenic), and one of them even dies -- leaving Pat as the obvious culprit.

And according to Ms. Stasi, that's just the beginning!

BCnU

MISSING LINKS: VIDEO VINTNERS

Sunday night's episode of 'Brothers & Sisters' took place at "The Wine Festival" - the Golden State Wine Festival, to be exact. As can be seen in the second screen capture, there were pavillions about the grounds; these served as promotional booths for the various vintners. Ojai Foods was represented by its sister company Walker Landing and its Coastal Reserve wine won the top prize at the festival. But who else could have been there at the festival?

I think it's possible that Carsini Vineyards might have been represented in one of those pavilions. More than likely Adrian Carsini is not connected to the company founded by his father; like the actor who played him (Donald Pleasance), Carsini is probably dead by now. And because of his legal problems, Carsini may have been forced to sell the company to the Merino Brothers.

Another family-owned vineyard that might have been at the Golden State Festival could be the Pinoni Vineyards, the setting for the short-lived sitcom 'Encore! Encore!'.

BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: TESLA, TWO FOR TUESDAY

For today's "Two For Tuesday" ASOTV, we have two different looks at inventor Nikola Tesla, neither of which belong in Earth Prime-Time.

First up, here's Nikola Tesla as he looks today, still "alive" thanks to his conversion as an electricity-wielding vampire:

NIKOLA TESLA

AS SEEN IN:
'Sanctuary'

AS PLAYED BY:
Jonathon Young
'Sanctuary' had to be moved to a different dimension because it played fast and loose not only with the personal history of Tesla, but also with that of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes/Conan Doyle.

The second portrayal of Tesla happened in Toronto of the mid-1890's....

NIKOLA TESLA

AS SEEN IN:
'The Murdoch Mysteries'

AS PLAYED BY:
Dmitry Chepovetsky
As good as the TV series version of the "Murdoch Mysteries" books is, it has been preceded in the main Toobworld by three TV movies with an entirely different cast and historic lifeline for the main characters. But the series makes a worthy addition to either the dimension of remakes or Earth Prime-Time/West Wing.

BCnU!

TVXOHOF, 11/2009-C: ROCKY & BULLWINKLE

Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose have been chosen for the Tooniverse entries into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame for November, the month in which we traditionally have a political theme. And if any cartoon characters in the Tooniverse showed "subversive" political leanings, it was these two citizens of Frostbite Falls.

This spilled over into the Real World as well. As a publicity stunt, Jay Ward and Bill Scott campaigned for statehood for "Moosylvania", Bullwinkle's fictional home state. They drove a van to about 50 cities collecting petition signatures. Arriving in Washington DC, they pulled up to the White House gate to see President Kennedy, and were brusquely turned away. They learned that the evening they had arrived was during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

They've also been invoked in political cartoons and slanted jabs at opposing candidates, utilized by both sides of any political stance: That's not enough to qualify for induction, of course. They needed three separate appearances in Toobworld, and Moose und Squirrel fill the bill: The first two seasons appeared on ABC as 'Rocky And His Friends'; the last three seasons aired on NBC as 'The Bullwinkle Show'; and then there are the blipverts they made in support of their sponsor, General Mills cereals.



It's a good thing they have those commercials in their roster, because I'd hate to think that they're qualifications for induction depended on two theatrically released movies in which they were featured. At least in "The Adventures of Rocky And Bullwinkle", they were seen in their traditional forms. In "Boris And Natasha", they had been transformed into humans!
They've also appeared outside the TV Universe in book form:

At least Bullwinkle (not sure about Rocky) made it into the live action Toobworld, thanks to his portrayal in puppet form in an early incarnation of the character:





BCnU!

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

A couple of months ago, 'Psych' was playing around with their theme song - for example, because of a storyline in which Gus re-teamed with his old singing group, Boys 2 Men delivered the song in their own style for that episode.

There was also another episode called "Bollywood Homicide" which had the theme rendered in Hindi, including the titles. It was actually pretty catchy, but it also reminded me of another theme song.....





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AS SEEN ON TV: WILLIE ESTERHUYSE

WILLIE ESTERHUYSE

AS SEEN IN:
"Endgame"

AS PLAYED BY:
William Hurt

Willem Petrus "Willie" Esterhuyse was a university professor active in enlisting other Afrikaners to the anti-apartheid cause when he assumed a role in opening the dialogue between the exiled African National Congress (ANC) and South Africa's apartheid government in the late 1980s.

Esterhuyse detested what he deemed the terrorist actions of the ANC that put civilians in danger as much as he knew that South Africa's government could not continue on its current course. Author of the 1981 book, "Apartheid Must Die", the cool-headed professor was involved not only in the initial talks, but in convincing parties to come back to the table when negotiations had stalled.

Esterhuyse subsequently became an advisor to Thabo Mbeki, ANC president Oliver Tambo's representative at the talks who went on to be president of South Africa. Esterhuyse retired from Stellenbosch University in 2006. He continues to speak about the challenges facing present day South Africa and is writing a book about trust and confidence-building in bridging the racial divide.
(from pbs.org)

BCnU!

(And that concludes our look at the "Endgame" players....)

TOO LATE NOW - MUSINGS ON "EASTWICK"

"Cadwallader's my name.

At least it's the name I'm using this month.

Has a nice feeling on the tongue.

Cad-wallader!"
Mr. Cadwallader
'The Twilight Zone'

I've been gone so long from regular blogging that a few new shows from the Fall season of 2009 have already been cast aside.

One of these was 'Eastwick', based on a novel by John Updike (which also spawned - good choice of words! - a movie version back in the late 1980s). Even though this went to series, albeit a short-lived one, I'm not sure this version of the story should be considered for Earth Prime-Time, as there were two earlier attempts to launch a series with TV movie pilots in 1992 and in 2002.

DARRYL VAN HORNE
(2009, 2002, 1992)

In any event, the Devil may be one of those characters, like God Himself, who transcends the boundaries of parallel dimensions to be the same personage in all of them. At any rate, no matter which version of "The Witches Of Eastwick" is chosen for Earth Prime-Time, that incarnation of the Devil is the same character from 'Reaper', as well as from 'Brimstone'. He's a master of disguise, so he can go from looking like John Glover to Ray Wise to either Paul Gross, Jason O'Mara, or Michael Siberry... whoever the Hell (literally!) he is. Not to mention all of his other incarnations in other TV shows (like 'The Twilight Zone' and even 'South Park'). Unlike his former Boss, the Devil can't be everywhere at once. So when he wasn't with his son Sam Oliver in Seattle, he'd be haranguing Ezekiel Stone, another of his bounty hunters in New York City, or just taking time off for a little fling with his three dalliances in Eastwick.

By the way, no matter where the 2009 'Eastwick' ends up, it does have a missing link to another series. The town may be hundreds of years old, but there was a real estate development make-over in the past several decades, which was designed by the same architectural planner who created the look for the Connecticut town of Stars Hollow [as seen in 'Gilmore Girls']. In fact, the Eastwick Diner looks like the same structure as Luke's Diner in Stars Hollow. BCnU!

AS SEEN ON TV: MICHAEL YOUNG

MICHAEL YOUNG

AS SEEN IN:
"Endgame"

AS PLAYED BY:
Jonny Lee Miller

In the 1980s, Michael Young was head of communications for Consolidated Gold Fields, a British mining company with significant assets in South Africa — assets that would be at risk if boiling race relations were to explode. Young recognized that a volatile South Africa was bad for business, but a peaceful resolution would be in everyone's interest.

At the behest of African National Congress (ANC) president Oliver Tambo and at great personal and professional risk, Young initiated a series of covert talks between representatives of the exiled ANC and powerful Afrikaner elite — more than a dozen meetings over five years — at the company's Somerset mansion.

It was not Young's first foray into conflict resolution. In the 1970s at the request of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath, Young worked on one of the first contacts between a major British political party and the IRA in an attempt bridge the divide fueling the bloody civil war in Northern Ireland. Young had also advised political leaders in both Portugal and Spain as the two countries transitioned from dictatorships to democracies.

Today, Young runs his own company advising businesses and governmental organizations around the world on strategic change management.
(from pbs.org)

BCnU!