The MCU-Westphall Connection.

Normally I review things here (that is, when I bother to write anything at all). This isn't a review, more like a heap of speculation. I know this is gonna get weird, but just this week we were reminded that Colonel Harlan Sanders is a major part of the DC multiverse. So clear your next half-hour and stick with me.

So Captain America: Civil War has been out for a few months, but I was discussing it with a friend this week, and he forwarded me the following screenshot:

That's right. In case you still haven't heard, Arrested Development's Bluth Co. Staircar pretty much appears in the film. (It's not a complete match, but -- barring denial from the directors -- I'm gonna say that's supposed to be the same thing.)

Why? Well, if you're not caught up yet, Cap's last two solo movies were directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, otherwise most famous for directing a LOT of Community. But, they also directed a lot of AD, so if we assume that's the same car, that means Arrested Development exists in the same fictional universe as the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Which is great fun to think about, right? Imagine Iron Man flying in to fight the "giant" mole monster.  Imagine Peggy Carter visiting Wee Britain, or Doctor Strange teaching Gob how to perform real tricks illusions. Imagine 1980s-era Howard Stark being treated by Doctor Norman, or Maggie Lang somehow running into Kitty Sanchez.

But the fun doesn't stop there. Remember this scene?

No? Well, that's ok; I brought links! It's Detective John Munch, appearing on AD. Which means the Marvel Cinematic Universe is tied into the biggest shared fictional universe on TV.  To sum it up, that means the Battle of New York was witnessed by Benson and Stabler. And, god help her, Benson might one day see one of Kilgrave's victims.

I can't be the only person who wants to see Detective Goren haul Wilson Fisk into an interrogation room and berate him about his personal failings for 20 minutes.

But I'm not stopping there either.

That's right. In case you forgot, Munch showed up on The X-Files too. For boring legal reasons, there aren't any "mutants" in the MCU. But The X-Files used a lot of mutants, starting almost at the beginning. Ever so many monsters-of-the-week would make great oneshot Marvel villains. Oh, and speaking of Cap, I seem to remember something about SuperSoldiers there too.

Before SVU, of course, John Munch started his TV life on one of my favorite shows, Homicide. Agents of SHIELD has an assassin named Sebastian Derik, who claims to be from Baltimore. If he started his murderin' ways there, surely his victims were investigated by Al Giardello's murder squad, possibly even by Munch himself.

Homicide also had a guest-star crossover from Saint Elsewhere, which crossed over with a lot of shows: M*A*S*H, Cheers, and The Bob Newhart Show. This is where we really go into the weeds.

Peter Quill was kidnapped outside a 1988 Missouri hospital -- can we assume some of the staff from AfterMash had moved down the road from their nearby Veterans' Hospital?
How close is the Goldbrix Tavern to Cheers?

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And there are now hundreds of new heroes in the MCU! Here are a few notables:
Walker, Texas Ranger (Homicide & St. Elsewhere > Chicago Hope > Early Edition > Martial Law > Walker Texas Ranger)
Ally McBeal (Cheers > Boston Public & Boston Legal > Ally McBeal)
Phoebe Buffay (Cheers > Frasier > Caroline In The City > Friends)
Cosmo Kramer (Friends > Mad About You > Seinfeld)
Barney Fife (Mad About You > The Dick Van Dyke Show > The Danny Thomas Show > The Andy Griffith Show)

And there are a few other heroes that might be in the MCU. For example, Murphy Brown is a real person in the crossover with The Bob Newhart Show, But on Seinfeld, Murphy Brown is a fictional character, played by Candice Bergen.

Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor (owned by the same corporate parent as the MCU -- get on that movie, Disney!) appeared on The Drew Carey Show, which crossed over with Coach, which crossed over with Newhart. But Newhart was all a dream of Bob's character on The Bob Newhart Show, which means Tim Taylor is part of that dream. (Drew Carey also featured an appearance from Daffy Duck, whose WB partner Wile E. Coyote appeared on Night Court, but we're drifting from what I'm generously going to call my point.)

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And speaking of dreams, we're coming close to the end here. Saint Elsewhere famously ended by revealing that the whole show was a dream of one character (which, of course, means that Newhart, Coach, et al, are part of a dream within a dream). So therefore the MCU is all a part of Tommy Westphall's snowglobe dream, right?

In other words, I just completely wasted four hours of my life researching and writing this post. And I would gladly do it again. Of course, there are dozens of other characters and shows I didn't have room to talk about -- who's your favorite "new" Marvel character?

A Spoopy Month #21: Newsradio "Daydream"

So, two weeks after their official Halloween episode, Paul Simms and his silly friends did another spooky thing, and it's just one layer of one of the best Newsradios ever.

The office A/C is out of order (Joe's working on it!) and it's leading everyone to have some strange daydreams. Bill, of course, is having fantasy makeout sessions with all the ladies, and Lisa is trying desperately to craft a proper verbal comeback to Dave.

Sidebar: Of course Lisa won't match Dave's quickness -- she enjoys fast-talking verbal barbs, My Girl Friday-style, but after one quick exchange she's usually spent. Why oh why isn't Maura Tierney still working in comedy? I haven't seen her current show (though I made the mistake of trying both of Dave's last shows), but I don't imagine it gives her much opportunity to make with the yuk-yuks.

Dave just wants people to do something (work would be nice). Catherine is imagining more people of color in the office (including her future Treme husband), but only ends up with poor Joe Furey, fresh off his triumph as the mime who wouldn't shut up in our last episode.

Beth is more out of it than most, since she and Matthew stayed up all night watching horror movies, so she keeps seeing Matthew as every scary movie. (He's Chucky! He's Jason! He's Dracula! He's Alien!) We spend a large portion of this episode as Beth relives the most iconic horrors of recent times.

Meanwhile, the A/C's still out, and Joe's still working on it! And he can only dream of the day he's converted everyone else into robots to do his bidding.

This won't be the first time I've mentioned my love for audio commentaries, and the one recorded for this episode is a doozy. It's got creator Paul Simms, along with Dave and Vicki Lewis and Andy Dick. And Andy Dick, predictably, doesn't remember much about the episode. (My friend went to the recent stage reunion of the cast and tells me this is still the dynamic among the cast: We love Andy, and he's special, but...)

This is the first "weird" Newsradio episode, and the first they filmed without a live audience. The writing is incredibly tight, but still has room for things like the daydream of Howie, the little old man who runs the snack cart and is never heard from again. The nesting daydream of Matthew with red "Thriller" eyes perfectly mirrors the inescapable dreamlike horror of the ending of that video.

And speaking of iconic endings of things, let's spend a second on St. Elsewhere, shall we? I've only ever seen one episode, but I know the ending is a direct lift from that, theme music and all. It's weird, but I still get a little emotional at this episode's end. He doesn't say it much, but we know (or at least desperately need to believe) that Jimmy truly loves all the nutballs at his radio station, and the sweet chiming music (no matter where it's from) can make me mist up a little. I'm really grateful for the joy this show has brought me (and I believe most of the cast and crew truly felt like a family during the production), and the ten seconds of elegy for the show, midway through its run, is both ridiculous and touching. When this show's actual end came, it was messy and disheartening, not at all what I hoped it would or could be. So, I'll take what I can get.


As an episode of Newsradio, I rate this 10/10. I'm tempted to go higher -- this is a paradigm-setting part of this show, and led to even higher flights of fancy later, but remains grounded and in-universe.
As a Halloween episode, I rate this 4/10. We don't spend a large percentage of our time on scary things (though I count Joe's cyborg fantasy in that), but it is solid and fun.