Several people have written to me bringing my attention to a completely insane incident where a student in Kentucky has been thrown in a juvenile detention center for writing a short story in which zombies overrun a high school. More details can be found here…
http://www.lex18.com/global/story.asp?s=2989614&ClientType=Printable
What I keep thinking about was that when I was in seventh grade, I had an assignment to write a ghost story, and did a story where the ghost of a student exacts horrific revenge upon an obnoxious teacher. If I’m in seventh grade now and write that same story, next thing I know, I’m going to wind up talking to police and social workers.
PAD
• 
I’d liek to more “news” posts rather than blog posts. Anyone can have a blog…
Still, makes for interesting reading at least…
So what if his story didn’t have the word ‘zombie’ in it?
Zombie movies don’t have the word ‘zombie’ in them. Except Shaun of the Dead, which is a parody.
Let’s see how the story plays out before assuming the innocence of the young lad. The assumption seems to be the kid’s right and the adults (including his grandfather, the cops, the principal and the prosecutor) are wrong. I don’t know about you, but my spider sense is tingling a bit on this one.
Originally posted by Randomus:
Zombie movies don’t have the word ‘zombie’ in them. Except Shaun of the Dead, which is a parody.
“Don’t use the Zed-word!”
Darren J. Hudak: How many other TV characters have appeared on 4 different shows?
Luigi Novi: Good point. The only ones I know of that come close is Quark, who appeared on three different Star Trek series.
Spoon — Oh, now you’ve got me (a) reminiscing about some of Julie Brown’s better tunes (HQGaG and “‘Cause I’m a Blonde” being two of my favorites), and (b) wondering just how much trouble I’d get into at school if I played “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun” to one of my classes just to make a point. (I’d play it for my AP class — they’ve all had me for two years and thus are irrevocably warped anyway, and are also seniors and thus well-equipped with functioning bûllšhìŧ detectors.)
Thomas E. Reed —
A good question at this point. How many of you know who you voted for your local school board – if you bothered to vote at all?
[snip]
If this somehow upsets you, perhaps you should vote next time. Or perhaps you should run for school board next time, and make your views publicly known, and be willing to defend them.
While Thomas and I didn’t exactly see eye to eye the last time we discussed education (in other words, he made a blanket generalization that all teachers are emotionally twisted bullying morons, which I have some mild objections to), I’ll back this statement of his up to the hilt, especially for those of you with kids.
Know the school board (or the equivalent if your kid’s in private school) — and his idea of running for school board is not a bad idea. Lisa and I are moving east come summer, and once we’re settled in our new abode I may well consider something like that. (Of course, Thomas would undoubtedly say I’m part of the problem. 🙂
I do hope that the story’s a hoax, but I suspect, alas, that it’s not. If anyone gets definitive information one way or the other, I hope you’ll inform us all.
TWL
Det. Munch, one of the greatest and most underappreciated supporting characters in the history of television. (Not only has the character been a regular on Homicide and L&O:SUV but he’s also crossed over to the X-Files and the original L&O. How many other TV characters have appeared on 4 different shows?)
You don’t have to look far: Jerry Orbach’s Detective Briscoe has now appeared on 5 different shows (Homicide and all four L&O’s)…too bad it won’t be going any higher (R.I.P. Mr. Orbach…)
This reminds me of the episode of FRASIER when Frasier, after getting pranked by Bulldog, plans to prank him by getting Bulldog to get some boxes from the basement one night, then have some actors dressed as zombies attack him. When Frasier tells his father the plan, Martin replies, “I don’t think it’s going to work, Frasier. For one thing, Bulldog never works nights, so that would make him suspicious. For another, thing, ZOMBIES DON’T EXIST!!!”
This reminds me of the early 1980s fears that playing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS would lead to slaughter and spellcasting. C’mon, what happened to distinguishing between fantasy and reality???
The scariest thing is that if the student was charged under current anti-terrorism laws, it shows that those laws will be used against ANYONE that authorities dislike, not just terrorists. And if that sounds extreme, think of what happened to this student’s Constitutional right to free speech.
It’s a frickin’ STORY!
This seems like a way for PAD to test the waters and see how reactionary and gullible most of you are, so that he can post another “The Sky is Falling!” story on how your liberties are being taken away and if it weren’t for him and CBLDF, you wouldn’t even be able to buy Watchmen!
PAD, it seems that there are a ton of gullible reactionaries that will buy into it, so now seems to be the right time to update us on CBLDF!!!
Wow. Ken’s really an áššhølë.
As for a more intelligent query:
“Just dawned on me: PAD, what would you have done today, considering you were told to write a ghost story, if this had happened to you?”
As a seventh grader now? I doubt very much I’d have written the story I wrote back in the 1960s.
PAD
“Lisa and I are moving east come summer, and once we’re settled in our new abode I may well consider something like that. (Of course, Thomas would undoubtedly say I’m part of the problem. :-)”
Tim, where are you guys heading? If it’s in North Carolina, look me up. I know some great sushi restaurants in Chapel Hill.
And if you’re moving to NC you WANT to be in Chapel Hill!
This seems like a way for PAD to test the waters and see how reactionary and gullible most of you are
This seems like the post of an utter jáçkášš.
Wow. Ken’s really an áššhølë.
Sometimes!
Hm, it just hit me. Robert Kirkman, author of The Walking Dead, lives in Kentucky.
He might wanna invest in a shotgun or something.
Here’s a new one fresh from Fark.com:
Christian school: “Spank your child or he’s suspended”
http://www.wtvm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3037129
Some things about this story just plain bug me.
First, where is the whole story? Every “News” website I’ve read only tells part of the story. Even with all the parts I’ve read I still have questions. I have no experience when it comes to reporting the news so I naturally assume that a “seasoned” reporter could do a better job than I. Well, now not so much.
Some don’t look to see if Poole has a documented history of misconduct or any of the “warning signs” that the various ‘Post Incident Expert Panels’ tell us about.
None have looked into the schools disciplinary history to determine if overreaction is the norm.
I know these things take time and that the story thus far is a “teaser” to peek our interest. It’s just frustrating, especially after all the other injustices done to children by schools. Aspirin, anyone?
FROM THE OTHER SIDE:
Darren J. Hudak: How many other TV characters have appeared on 4 different shows?
Luigi Novi: Good point. The only ones I know of that come close is Quark, who appeared on three different Star Trek series.
ME: I was going to pick Quark as well, but you beat me to it.
Ðámņ you, Luigi Novi of the often infallible argument disection!!!
By the way, Luigi, it’s good to see you here again. I was ready to put out an APB. 😉
In the realm of “same character across multiple series,” Estelle Getty played Sophia as a regular on THE GOLDEN GIRLS, THE GOLDEN PALACE and EMPTY NEST. She also guested as the character on BLOSSOM and NURSES. So that ties Lenny Briscoe, at the least.
(I had to use the IMDB to verify those last two. I don’t even remember the existence of a show called NURSES, and I’ve done my best to block out all memories of BLOSSOM)
On the main topic, though: didn’t everyone write stories like this in junior high or high school? I certainly did. We live in scary, borderline totalitarian times.
“Darren J. Hudak: How many other TV characters have appeared on 4 different shows?”
Hunh. Well, let’s see: Carl Reiner as “Alan Brady” was in the original “Ðìçk Van Ðÿkë Show,” he appeared in “Mad About You,” he was in a Claymation short-lived series (or maybe it was a one-shot), and he showed up in a Van Ðÿkë reunion special.
Scotty appeared in Original Trek, DS9 (via the Tribbles episode), and Next Gen. If Sulu was in that DS9 episode, then he was also in three since he showed up in “Voyager.”
Then there’s obviously Clark Kent, in “The Adventures of Superman,” “Superboy,” “Lois and Clark,” and “Smallville.” But he didn’t exactly originate on TV.
But I’m reasonably sure the record is held by Jack Riley’s “Mr. Carlin.” Not only was he a regular on “The Bob Newhart Show,” but he showed up in cameo as Mr. Carlin in “Newhart,” “George and Leo,” ALF, and “St. Elsewhere.”
For that matter, Bob Hartley got around. Since he woke up at the end of “Newhart,” that counts for two, and he also showed up in “Murphy Brown” when Carol was Murphy’s secretary.
PAD
Everyone sing along now “Oh Canada…”
This kind of thing just keeps on happening again
and again.
Screw Canada too, they have their own pile of programs. I’ll take my own island out in the Pacific or Atlantic…
If we’re playing for three shows, Mork from Ork qualifies. He appeared in his own series, Happy Days, and Laverne and Shirley.
Yeah I read about this a few days ago on Brian K Vaughan’s forum. The Kid an the Grandparent must have had some major differences and fights for him to want to turn his grandson in for a story about zombies.
What bothers me even more is that the Judge an the jurry didnt laugh at it, and toss it out the window. I mean seriously. If this kid is a terrorist for writing the story. Then they should go after George Romer, Robert Kirkman, Garth Ennis and just about anybody else who has creativity in their head. Because really. How does writing about zombies taking over A school, make you a “terrorist” threat?
The kids not a mad scientist plotting to take over the world, or raise the dead. He was merely writing a story. Hëll I did the same when I was in school. But I didnt get yelled at or arrested..
Brainster, that paragon of American values said :
Let’s see how the story plays out before assuming the innocence of the young lad.
Yes because, god knows, if we start by presuming innocence before guilt, who knows WHERE that sort of pinko liberal commie thinking will lead???
PAD, CLark Kent would not count — we’re talking same actor playing the same character. Riley as Carlin ties with Orbach as Lenny Briscoe and Getty as Sophia Petrillo as noted above.
Not sure I’d count Alan King’s appearance on a reunion special as separate from THE ÐÍÇK VAN ПKÊ show itself, but agreed on all other citings.
So, can anyone name an actor/character that’s gone across six series?
Oh, and the Tribbles DS9 episode would also stretch McCoy and Spock to three series via their appearances on NEXT GEN.
Here’s one I can’t believe I didn’t think of before: Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker on ALL IN THE FAMILY and ARCHIE BUNKER’S PLACE as a regular, and as a guest on MAUDE and GLORIA. DId he also do the role on THE JEFFERSONS? That would tie him with five. IMDB doesn’t list him on JEFFERSONS, but they don’t list him on MAUDE, either, and I’m sure I remember him appearing on that show at least once.
I’m reserving judgement until more detail on the case can come out. If it was just a zombie story, then there is some serious knee-jerk reaction; however, if he was trying to actively recruit people to take over the school as some reports are indicating, then I think the actions were prudent. We just don’t know enough beyond initial reports to make any qualified assessment of the actions of the prosecution.
For the sub-thread, I think Henry Winkler as Arthur Fonzarelli (not counting reunion shows, but counting animated series) is at the top:
Happy Days
Laverne and Shirley
Mork and Mindy
Joanie Loves Chachi
Fonz and the Happy Days gang (animated)
Laverne and Shirley with the Fonz (animated)
1) According to IMDB, the only episode of Gloria that had Archie on it was the “unaired pilot” — although that may well have aired in a rerun package for this show.
2) Gloria also causes us to note that Joey Stivic was a curiousity — a series-original character played by different actors in each of the three series where he appeared (All In The Family, Gloria, 704 Hauser)
3) Checking the TV crossover list at http://www.poobala.com/crossoverlist.html (which is pretty good at catching such things), I don’t see any sign of Estelle Getty playing her Empty Nest role on Blossom.
4) Folks are overlooking the Bradys. Marcia Brady was played by the same person on The Brady Bunch, The Brady Kids, The Brady Brunch Hour, and The Brady Brides, (but not The Bradys, although she was on the Very Brady Christmas telemovie that led to that show), and if you want to count dream sequences, also on Day By Day. Jan was played by the same person in The Brady Bunch, The Brady Kids, The Brady Brides, and The Bradys (but not The Brady Hour).
5) Gary Coleman played his Diff’rent Strokes character on that show plus guest spots on Facts Of Life, Fresh Prince, and Silver Spoons.
6) Sherman Hemsely played George Jefferson on All In The Family (recurring), The Jeffersons (regular), E/R (guest appearances — this is the Elliot Gould sitcom with George Clooney, not the more recent E.R. drama with George Clooney), and Fresh Prince (cameo).
7) Kelsey Grammar played Frasier Crane on Cheers, Frasier, and guest spots on The John Laroquette Show and Wings.
Hudak – Sarek showed up in at least three TREK series (original, animated and NEXT), plus a movie or two. Does that count?
Lynch – Julie Brown’s “‘Cause I’m a Blonde”? Ever see the fan-made video of that? The guy put together a large number of Japanese anime clips, all featuring blonde characters, to fit the lyrics of the song. It is almost painfully funny to watch. Also did one on GIRL FIGHT TONIGHT which wasn’t bad, though not as funny.
Mulligan – “I know some great sushi restaurants in Chapel Hill.”
Where were you when we needed you? [Japanese] girlfriend made a side trip to Chapel Hill to visit an acquaintance there during one of her stays here in Canada. She didn’t have much good to say about the restaurants she ate at there when she got back, however.
Didn’t something remarkably similar to this happen about two or three years ago? Maybe not out of Kentucky, but one of the Southern states (must be something in the water)?
As far as characters making multiple appearances on television, “Q” made three series (ST:TNG, ST: DS9), ST:V; I was half-expecting an appearance on “Enterprise”).
If what it says is true, then there is definitely cause to be outraged. People are saying “let’s see how this story plays out”, but who knows if we’ll even see anything more from this story. Also, it’s possible that each news source will report it with whatever slant they want, with none of them giving us the whole story. The only way I’d be completely happy with further information is if I, or someone I trusted were to investigate personally. I don’t really trust the news media too far.
The level of fear derived from this type of stuff is awful. Kids have joked about violence towards teachers and in school for years as simply a way to deal with all their stress and dislike for school in general. Anyone remember this little ditty:
Glory, Glory Hallelujah,
My teacher hit me with a ruler
I met her at the door with a loaded 44
And she ain’t my teacher no more
There’s a less violent version that replaces the 3rd line with “I knocked her on the bean with a rotten tangerine”
Or how about:
Glory, glory to the burning of the school
we’ve tortured every teacher
and broken every rule
we’ll barbecue the principal
tomorrow after school
as the kids go marching on
Just goofy little songs, but singing them in the hallways of a school itself could probably get you arrested these days.
Diaz – “We live in scary, borderline totalitarian times.”
And getting worse. See below.
**************
Toronto Star
Business, Monday, March 7, 2005, p. D01
Do we want fee-based, surveillance-ready Web?
Say no to Big Brother plan for Internet
By Michael Geist
During the Internet boom of the late 1990s, Nortel Networks ran an advertising campaign that featured as its slogan, “what do you want the Internet to be?” The implications were obvious – the Internet was a technology of unlimited possibility that could be whatever we wanted it to be.
More than five years later, Nortel’s vision is becoming reality. The Internet has become so essential to the every day lives of millions of people – a pillar of communication, information, entertainment, education, and commerce – that at times it seems as if the Internet really is anything we want it to be.
Notwithstanding the Internet’s remarkable potential, there are dark clouds on the horizon. There are some who see a very different Internet. Theirs is an Internet with ubiquitous surveillance featuring real-time capabilities to monitor online activities. It is an Internet that views third party applications such as Vonage’s Voice-over-IP service as parasitic. It is an Internet in which virtually all content should come at a price, even when that content has been made freely available. It is an Internet that would seek to cut off subscriber access based on mere allegations of wrongdoing, without due process or oversight from a judge or jury.
This disturbing vision of the Internet is not fantasy. It is based on real policy proposals being considered by the Canadian government today.
Leading the way is the federal government’s “lawful access” initiative. While the term lawful access sounds innocuous, the program, which dates back to 2002, represents law enforcement’s desire to re-make Canada’s networks to allow for lawful interception of private communications.
If lawful access becomes reality, Canada’s telecommunications service providers (TSPs) will be required to refit their networks to allow for real-time interception of communications, to have the capability of simultaneously intercepting multiple transmissions, and to provide detailed subscriber information to law enforcement authorities without a court order within 72 hours.
Moreover, Canada’s service providers will be subject to inspections and required to provide the government with reports on the technical capabilities of their networks. These activities will be shrouded in secrecy with service providers facing fines of up to $500,000 or sentences of up to five years in jail for failing to keep the data collection confidential.
All of these changes come at an enormous cost – both financially (hundreds of millions of dollars in new technology) and to our personal privacy. While some changes may be needed for security purposes, the government has yet to make the case for why the current set of powers, which include cybercrime and wiretapping provisions, are insufficient. There has been no evidence provided that this approach is the least privacy invasive alternative.
Refitting the network is not limited to government initiatives. In recent weeks it has become apparent that the network providers themselves may seek to interfere with the free flow of data. For example, Vonage (the leading independent Voice-over-IP provider) recently filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. alleging that an unnamed Internet service provider was blocking its service. Last week, the provider agreed to stop and to pay a fine to the FCC.
In a less publicized incident, the Communications Commission of Kenya last week ordered the state-owned Telkom Kenya to restore service to Sema VoIP, another Voice-over-IP provider which is backed by Canadian-based BMT North America. The Commission warned Telkom Kenya against taking similar action in the future.
The issue raised by these cases is not new. Observers have long feared that ISPs would succumb to economic self-interest, engaging in “packet preferencing” by blocking or slowing data coming from competing sites or services. While service providers are quick to argue that they want merely to serve as intermediaries without regard for what traverses their networks, as they offer competing Internet phone services, music download services, and other value-added content, there will be a clear temptation to create a home network advantage.
In fact, at the CRTC hearings into VoIP last fall, the parent company of at least one major provider gave every indication that it did not view third party services favourably. Quebecor, which owns Videotron, told the Commission that services such as Vonage contributed nothing to the development of facilities-based competition and that “the service provider’s VoIP-based service is totally parasitic on the local access facilities of other carriers.”
As the leading Canadian ISPs roll out their own VoIP services, many may look at competing services in the same way and seek to limit the use of their network. Stopping such interference requires a strong CRTC, yet with Industry Minister David Emerson’s planned review of Canada’s telecommunications law, some industry experts fear that Canada is heading in the opposite direction.
The Minister of Industry, together with Liza Frulla, his Canadian Heritage counterpart, are also reportedly about to finalize new rules that may reshape the availability of Internet content to educational institutions. Acting on the recommendation of a parliamentary committee that was chaired by Toronto MP Sarmite Bulte, the government may soon unveil a new “extended license” that would require schools to pay millions of dollars for content that is currently freely available on the Internet.
While the committee recommendation excluded payment for content that is publicly available, it adopted the narrowest possible definition of publicly available, limiting it to only those works that are not technologically or password protected and which contain an explicit notice that the material can be used without prior payment or permission.
Moreover, those same ministers are also contemplating a new system that would allow content owners to file a complaint with an ISP if one of their subscribers has allegedly posted infringing content. Canada’s rules for child pornography still require a court order before content is removed, yet if the Canadian Recording Industry Association and other well-funded interests get their way, the ISP will respond to a mere allegation of copyright infringement by “kicking the subscriber off the system.”
With Canada conceivably ready to adopt rules that make it far easier to remove an allegedly infringing song than to remove dangerous child pornography from a new fee-based, surveillance-ready, packet preferenced Internet, it is difficult to overstate how out of touch our Internet policy process has become. Is this really what we want our Internet to be?
Michael Geist is the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He can be reached by email at mgeist @ uottawa.ca and online at http://www.michaelgeist.ca.
Camryn Manheim, as Ellenor Frutt, appeared on her own show, The Practice, as well as guesting as Ellenor on several other David E Kelley Shows, Boston Public, Gideon’s Crossing, and Ally Mcbeal.
George Wendt as Norm Petersen appeared as Norm on Cheers, St. Elsewhere, the Tortellis, Wings, and Frasier (plus, although only called “Mr. Petersen, on the Simpsons.)
Yes because, god knows, if we start by presuming innocence before guilt, who knows WHERE that sort of pinko liberal commie thinking will lead???
So I have to wait until the trial is over before I burn Michael Jackson at the stake!?
yet if the Canadian Recording Industry Association and other well-funded interests get their way, the ISP will respond to a mere allegation of copyright infringement by “kicking the subscriber off the system.”
This is already happening elsewhere – I’ve heard of people getting notices from their ISP’s about supposedly downloading this or that… when they’re actually downloading something else altogether.
These companies just don’t care if they pick off a few innocents along the way.
“I met her at the door with a loaded 44”
Our version was “the ruler turned red and the teacher fell dead” implying some kind of divine intervention in the whole sordid tale.
“Where were you when we needed you? [Japanese] girlfriend made a side trip to Chapel Hill to visit an acquaintance there during one of her stays here in Canada. She didn’t have much good to say about the restaurants she ate at there when she got back, however.”
Ahh, too bad. There’s a nifty little place that has sushi on a conveyer belt. The color of the plate tells you the price. You just keep eating and stacking up the plates until you are done and then the waitress just adds it all up based on what plates you have.
I find it’s best to go to Asian places with Asians, since the staff is more likely to serve you some of the really good stuff they normally won’t give to gaijin devils. Not so much out of racism as much as not wanting it sent back. I went to one place that had an entirely seperate menu written on the wall in Chinese and only the begging of my Asian date got me the tentacle filled delight I wanted to try. The chef even came out and complimented me on being one of the few white guys to appreciate good squid.
Our rhyme had the teacher being hit with a rotten egg.
Speaking of comic book readers (and writers), is anyone following the new storyline in “Funky Winkerbean”?
Linda
“I find it’s best to go to Asian places with Asians, since the staff is more likely to serve you some of the really good stuff they normally won’t give to gaijin devils.”
Usually, yes. But, if you should ever wind up in Ottawa, avoid Shogun’s (on Carling Ave). The Canada-Japan Society of Ottawa has monthly meetings at various Japanese restaurants in the area (dinner, followed by a guest speaker) and this is one we’ve sworn never to go back to. Owned/staffed by Chinese who speak no Japanese and almost no English, a very run-down decor, and thoroughly forgettable food. You have been warned.
“Just dawned on me: PAD, what would you have done today, considering you were to write a ghost story, id this had happened to you?”
PAD: “As a seventh grader now? I doubt very much I’d have written the story I wrote back in the 1960s.”
Are you really sure at that age you would have been consciously aware not to? The 1960s were not a particularly tranquil time in our history. Yet you wrote your story anyway.
KEN: “This seems like a way for PAD to test the wayers and see how reactionary and gullible you are, so that he can post another “The Sky Is Falling” story on how your liberties are being taken away, and if it weren’t for him and CBLDF, you wouldn’t even be able to buy Watchmen.”
PAD: “Wow. Ken’s really an áššhølë.”
While Ken’s post was far from thought-out or polite, some of the posts here seem to prove his point. This is not a Supreme Court decision, or a law that was passed. It is an isolated incident where the GRANDPARENT of the student in question took action to have him arrested.
But instead of having a “This is interesting. Let’s have an intelligent discussion” conversation, there are plenty of 1984/Patriot Act is evil/ America is dying/ 2005 McCarthyism comments that pop up WHENEVER PAD posts this kind of thread.
It bothers me, for several reasons, which i can’t get nto right now, but will before the day is done.
RE: Munch and actors appearing on different TV series
Well, I still think Belzer’s Munch is the most impressive. His shows were disparate in nature and even on different networks! That, to me anyway, is a lot differnt than stars appearing in spinoffs, variations on franchises or shows that change their title as they grow older.
“Our version was “the ruler turned red and the teacher fell dead” implying some kind of divine intervention in the whole sordid tale.”
“Our rhyme had the teacher being hit with a rotten egg.”
I actually heard the version with “I knocked her on the bean with a rotten tangerine” first. The one with the gun I heard later on. I think every school community’s got a different one. My school must not have had many with such a violent mindset. The worst we could some up with was hitting the teacher with rotten citrus fruit.
The one about barbecuing the principal was pretty much verbatim of how I first heard it.
Either would probably still cause a fuss if they heard kids singing them.
>>”Our version was “the ruler turned red and the teacher fell dead” implying some kind of divine intervention in the whole sordid tale.”
>”Our rhyme had the teacher being hit with a rotten egg.”
Up in Vermont in the early to mid 1970’s it was “met her in the attic with a loaded automatic”. Vermont, at least at the time, had one of the lowest crime rates in the nation. To my friends and I this was nothing more than a goofy little tune that we laughed at and knew better to say in front of adults unless we were looking to get a reaction….. typically annoyance, but never a follow-up by police officers.
I bet Joss Whedon and his writers are glad they didn’t write the Buffy episode Graduation today. Back in thier time all they had to do was delay its broadcast. Under our current climate, they probalby would have been arrested, even though every aspect of the show was fictional.
Didn’t something remarkably similar to this happen about two or three years ago? Maybe not out of Kentucky, but one of the Southern states (must be something in the water)?
The situation that struck me as at least loosely parallel — as I commented upstream — is the Kip Kinkel case out of Thurston, Oregon in 1998 (there’s a report by the PBS show Frontline online).
Critter: The Fonz with six is probably the tops. However, I question whether “Fonz and the Happy Days gang” and “Laverne and Shirley with the Fonz” (which IMDB lists as “The Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley with the Fonz Show”) were actually separate shows; that is, whether new Fonz/Happy Days segments were created for the latter show. Back in those days, episodes of various shows were always being conscripted into other animated series (my favorite being a conglomeration of Batman, Tarzan, Zorro and the Lone Ranger that CBS aired in various forms for a few years — and I think it may have included Isis at one point, too). Worth noting that this also puts Mork up to three (despite an earlier post, there’s no evidence on IMDB of the character showing up on LAVERNE & SHIRLEY).
Laverne & Shirley, incidentally, show up four times: HAPPY DAYS, LAVERNE & SHIRLEY, LAVERNE & SHIRLEY IN THE ARMY (animated) and the Mork/L&S/Fonz animated show.
Richie Cunningham also shows up in HAPPY DAYS, L&S, FONZ AND THE HAPPY DAYS GANG, and LOVE, AMERICAN STYLE. And Potsie shows up on HD, L&S, L,AS, and SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH. HAPPY DAYS is gold mine for this game! And we haven’t even mentioned JOANIE LOVES CHACHI yet!
Nat Gertler: I’m sure I remember seeing that episode of “Gloria.” That series was pretty short-lived so I don’t know whether it was ever syndicated, and I don’t recall seeing it in recent years. Could be that I’m thinking of the episode of “Archie Bunker’s Place” that set up the series, so I’m more than willing to cede the point.
Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo in “Blossom” episode: “I Ain’t Got No Buddy” (episode # 1.6) 11 February 1991 according to IMDB.
Good calls on the Bradys (and I think Florence Henderson appeared on every last one, so she gets a boost into the five series category), Arnold Jackson Drummond, George Jefferson and Frasier Crane.
StarWolf: Since we’ve established animated series with the Happy Days contingent, Mark Lenard would count. That also bumps up all the other STAR TREK TOS characters by one series, which puts Bones, Scotty, Spock and possibly Sulu at four each. We’re not counting movies here, though.
Hasn’t Majel Barrett been the computer voice on every TREK series save ENTERPRISE? That would put her at five — though arguably, each computer could be considered a different role.
Adam: Good call on Camryn Manheim, though it’s worth noting that GIDEON’S CROSSING was not a Kelley show — Kelley had to agree to do that crossover in a deal that let him crossover with the off-ABC BOSTON PUBLIC. Speaking of, Chi McBride’s character is appearing on BOSTON LEGAL, which puts him to three when you consider THE PRACTICE and BOSTON PUBLIC. Also, anyone that made the jump from THE PRACTICE to BOSTON LEGAL is at two, including Spader, Shatner and Betty White.
George Wendt with six as Norm ties Henry Winkler as the Fonz. Good one!
I think this could be the new “Kevin Bacon” game!
“Hasn’t Majel Barrett been the computer voice on every TREK series save ENTERPRISE? That would put her at five — though arguably, each computer could be considered a different role.”
and she might have done computer voices on other Rodenberry-related projects. 😛
“Well, I still think Belzer’s Munch is the most impressive.”
Ever read his fascinating ‘UFOs, JFK, AND ELVIS’?
http://www.randomhouse.com/BB/promos/ufosjfkandelvis/
In my case, it was just a matter of filling in details. After all, you don’t seal the evidence off for FIFTY YEARS unless you’re trying to protect someone. But it’s a great read nonetheless.
I think the real problem here is that this kid is 18 and still doesn’t have a firm grasp of the english language. I mean, I can understand if he is an ESL student, but c’mon…”It didn’t mention nobody who lives in Clark County, didn’t mention (George Rogers Clark High School), didn’t mention no principal or cops, nothing,”
said Poole. “Half the people at high school know me. They know I’m not that stupid, that crazy.”
the real problem is that the government in Kentucky should spend more time educating its citizens than persecuting them.
On the other hand, how scary is it that someone can be held on charges relating to terrorism and their bail is only $5000???
“”This is interesting. Let’s have an intelligent discussion” conversation, there are plenty of 1984/Patriot Act is evil/ America is dying/ 2005 McCarthyism comments that pop up WHENEVER PAD posts this kind of thread.”
Well, anyone who hangs out here for more than a day or two quickly learns that a few posters are Johnny One Note on issues–if you’ve heard one “I hate this place, America must die, dámņ this country to hëll,I wish that all intolerant people were put into a barn and their private parts were glued to the floor and then the barn was set on fire and you give them a saw so they can saw off their genitals to get away but it turns out that the doors were locked anyway ha ha ha” you’ve heard them all.
Like the old T-shirt slogan says, I used to be disgusted, now I’m just amused.
“Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo in “Blossom” episode: “I Ain’t Got No Buddy” (episode # 1.6) 11 February 1991 according to IMDB.”
Checking other sources, it looks like you may be right… which actually has a real impact in the TV multiverse (it would mean that Empty Nest takes place in the same universe as All In The Family!)
“Good calls on the Bradys (and I think Florence Henderson appeared on every last one, so she gets a boost into the five series category)”
No, she wasn’t in The Brady Kids, according to my sources anyway. BUT Ann B. Davis was in all four of the non-animated series AND the dream sequence of Day By Day AND an episode of Hi, Honey I’m Home all playing Alice. (The refusal of the Crossover list to recognize Hi, Honey I’m Home appearances keeps many universes from linking, alas.) This gives Alice either 5 or 6 series, depending on if you want to count dream sequences.
When I was growing up, the version of “Mine Eyes have seen the glory of the Burning of the School” that we learned had the lines, “We have _trampled_ all the teachers, we have broken all the rules. Now we’re going to the principal’s to flush him down the stool.”
By an interesting coincidence, I was recently trying to find the music for “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (to which this song is sung); and out of curiosity, did a Google search of the “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory” version. Curiously, I could find no mention anywhere of a version with the “trampled” lines I learned.
Were we the _only_ kids in the country who learned it that way?
As to “Glory, Glory Hallelujah”, in our version, the line was “_hid_ behind the door.”
On a slight tangent, in grade school I learned a joke about a kid who has to learn three words, and seeks help from his mother, sister and brother (or father). As best as I can recall from memory (though I have a 1978 tape of a friend telling the joke that I’ll probably dig out), the kid asks his mother for a word, but she’s engrossed in her own stuff and tells him to shut up. Sis is busy listening to her music, and says, “yeah, yeah, gonna have a good time” (more to herself than him); and the kid’s brother (or is it father), is busy watching “Batman” and singing along to the theme song.
Next day, the teacher asks the kid what words he learned:
“Shut up!”
“Do you want to go to the principal’s office?”
“Yeah, yeah, gonna have a good time.”
“Who do you think you are anyway?”
“Batman. Batman. Batman.”
A few years ago, my cousin, who was about 13 at the time, told a variation of that joke with a different set of three words (no mention of Batman, for example). Wonder how much that joke has mutated over the years. And, for that matter, how the _original_ version went.
Rick