TVSquad

When watching any nature special from PBS or the BBC featuring dangerous wild animals photographed at reasonably close range, how often do you stop and consider the very real danger men and women are in while getting that footage?

That danger proved deadly this past weekend when a rampaging African elephant trampled and killed a British tour guide (Anton Turner, 38) who was trying to protect a group of children visiting Tanzania.

The kids were in Africa serving as TV hosts for the CBBC (BBC's children's channel) show, Serious Explorers. Seven children were planning to follow the steps of Victorian explorer Dr. David Livingston.

Reports say, when the elephant charged a group of the CBBC kids, Turner challenged the elephant and attempted to shoot his rifle at the animal. But, he was unable to open fire in time and was trampled. Turner leaves behind a pregnant wife.

Yesterday brought sad news for anyone who's a comedy writer, aspired to be a comedy writer, or just appreciated a well-turned and funny phrase. Larry Gelbart passed away; he had been diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. He died at his Los Angeles home yesterday morning at the age of 81.

Gelbart is probably best known for his writing on M*A*S*H during its early years. The almost lyrical comedic dialogue he gave Hawkeye, Trapper, and the rest of the gang is what drew me to the show, and he influenced almost everyone who worked on the show afterwards, including FOS (Friend of Squad) Ken Levine, who was just "too devestated" to write a tribute on his blog (expect one on Monday, though).

Wow. I just got in from a very, very late flight from Denver, and the early-morning newscasts hit me with this wallop: my favorite comedian, George Carlin, passed away last night. On Sunday, he admitted himself into a local Santa Monica hospital, complaining of chest pains, and ended up dying that evening of heart failure. He was 71.

Carlin, of course, is most famous for the 1970s comedy routine "Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV." It was a bit which not only got radio stations that played it in trouble with the FCC, leading to landmark First Amendment and decency rulings by the Supreme Court, but he was also arrested in Milwaukee on indecency charges after doing the routine on stage there.

Huh.

Farfour, the Mickey Mouse-looking host of a children's program that encouraged Palestinian children to rise up against Israel, is now dead. On the final episode of Tomorrow's Pioneers, Farfour was "killed" by an actor portraying an Israeli official after refusing to sell his land.

Ghost Whisper, or as I call it, Can I Sit Through a Show I Hate For No Other Reason Than to Ogle Jennifer Love Hewitt?, now has a spin-off of sorts, an online-only series launching today on CBS' innertube broadband site. The new web series, Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side, focuses on Zach, an earthbound spirit who tries to come to terms with his death with the help of other spirits. Zach will be played by Mark Hapka, and the series will also feature Robin Hines, rapper DNA and Graham McTavish as the ghosts who try to help Zach communicate with the world of the living.

Zach will also appear in the second season finale of Ghost Whisperer. The first webisode is available to watch now, and a new episode will debut every Friday.

Check out a trailer for the new online series after the jump.

One of the reasons why I stopped reviewing Grey's Anatomy was because that it just plain tired me out. With so many characters and storylines to keep track of, it became very difficult to cover them all in my reviews. Another reason was that the increasingly soapy melodrama was wearing me down, a notion that was confirmed to me last week when George and Izzie drunkenly slept together at the end of the episode (Though it did give birth to Jonathan's clever use of the name "Gizzie").

But what also got to me about the show was its complete lack of medical realism. Yes, I know it's a TV show and it doesn't have to be hyper-real, but in the day and age of ER and reality medical shows on TLC, you need to come somewhat closer to medical realism than, say, Marcus Welby, M.D. did 35 years ago.

The last straw on this front was when I saw Meredith Grey at the beginning of last week's episode. Despite the fact that she was clinically dead for what seemed like hours, she came out of it not only OK, but prettier than ever!

I have to admit I hadn't paid much attention to the work of comedian Richard Jeni over the last few years, but when I was in middle school and his specials aired on Showtime, I thought he was one of the most hysterical comedians I had ever seen. This equation of his is one I still quote from time to time:

'God is love. Love is blind. Therefore, Ray Charles is God.'

That makes perfect sense to me, but what's always a little more difficult to figure out is why a person would take their own life. According to Jeni's family, who released a statement saying Jeni's career was going fine and that they believe his death was probably a suicide, spurred by Jeni's having been "diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia." No official announcement from the autopsy has been made yet.

You can read the full statement on Jeni's official site.

Wow. Here's a shocker for a Sunday afternoon: Comedian Richard Jeni has passed away from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 45 years old (Update: Jeni's web site cites his year of birth as 1957).

According to this AP report (via CNN), Jeni's girlfriend called police and told them "my boyfriend shot himself in the face." Jeni was found in a West Hollywood home barely alive, and he died in the hospital soon afterwards.

You've likely seen Jeni many times, as a guest on various talk shows (he appeared on The Tonight Show often, with both Johnny Carson and Jay Leno), or on HBO specials like Platypus Man or last year's A Big Steaming Pile of Me. He first appeared nationally on a 1990 Showtime special entitled Richard Jeni: Boy From New York City.

Harvey R. Cohen, who composed music for both live-action and animated series and won Emmys for his work on the television cartoon series Aladdin and The Adventures of Batman and Robin and was nominated for his work on Casper and Batman: The Animated Series, died January 14 of a heart attack. He was fifty-five.

Cohen's other TV work included Superman, Tiny Toon Adventures, Bonkers, Taz-Mania, The Little Mermaid, Gargoyles, Goof Troop, Dallas, The Wonder Years, Knots Landing, Growing Pains and Murphy Brown. He also orchestrated Billy Crystal's popular Oscar medley on four different occasions, and arranged music for many stars, including Kenny G, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters and Shirley MacLaine. In 2003, he composed a tribute to the Columbia Space Shuttle astronauts.

Steve Krantz, the producer who helped bring Marvel characters to the television screen, passed away due to complications from pneumonia on January 4 at the age of 83.

Krantz produced The Marvel Superheroes, a limited-animation series featuring The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Sub-Mariner. The series used artwork taken directly from the comic books, often from different artists so that the character designs would sometimes change within a single episode. Marvel Superheroes was a major influence on the graphic style of the Adult Swim series Minoriteam.

Krantz also produced the Spider-Man cartoon in the late '60s, and was also a producer for Ralph Bakshi's films Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic. Bakshi also worked as a writer on Marvel Superheroes. Krantz's other projects included developing series based on books by his wife, the novelist Judith Krantz. His son is 24 executive producer Tony Krantz.

[via Toon Zone]

Jim Henson passed away in 1990, but two years later, on this very day, we also lost another important Muppet performer: Richard Hunt. Hunt joined Henson for several of the Muppets' appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, and eventually joined Sesame Street, performing characters such as Forgetful Jones and Don Music. On The Muppet Show, he performed Beaker, Janice of The Electric Mayhem, Statler (one of the old men in the balcony) and Scooter (whose Uncle owned the theater).

Hunt also performed half of the Two-Headed Monster on Sesame Street along with Henson. The chemistry on stage between Henson and Frank Oz is often talked about, but Hunt was equally brilliant when working with Henson, as the hilarious exchanges between Statler and Waldorf prove. Casual fans may not hear much about him, but he was an important element in bringing that zany Muppetness to the TV screen.

I placed some clips of Hunt's characters below for your enjoyment, so, enjoy them.

[via Muppet News Flash]

I'm too young to really remember the late Gerald Ford, though he was president when I was born. That's not really significant, I'm just grasping for any kind of connection I might have with the man. The truth is, I don't know a lot about him, other than the basic stuff: he was not elected to the presidency, but rather took over when Nixon resigned, and also pardoned the former president. But then, I've always had what I describe as a "Cliff's Notes" way of retaining history.

If you're interested in learning a little more about Ford, you should check the listings for your local PBS station, because the WGVU-produced documentary, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History has been made available to PBS stations everywhere. The documentary was based on James Cannon's book of the same name, and chronicles the life of the late president and his political career.

Frank Stanton was one of those behind-the-scenes guys whose name TV fans probably don't know. But he's also one of the men who shaped broadcast television into how we see it today. He was president of CBS from 1946 to 1973, and along with network chairman William S. Paley, helped bring the network from the radio era to the TV era. He passed away on Sunday night at the age of 98.

The New York Times has a pretty extensive obituary for Stanton, including information on his complementary but strained relationship with Paley, his role within CBS, and his problems with Edward R. Murrow. He also helped oversee the design of the network's famous Eye logo, spearheaded the network's move into its Black Rock headquarters in New York, and how he helped steer the news division with innovations such as a 30-minute evening newscast. The Times obit talks about all of Stanton's impressive accomplishments, so if you want a condensed history of CBS, give it a read.

Sad news in the world of animation tonight: Joseph Barbera, half of the mega-successful animation team of Hanna-Barbera, died today of natural causes. He was 95.

As most people know, Barbera and his partner William Hanna were responsible for creating the most endearing cartoon characters of all time. From their first major creation, Tom and Jerry, they went on to create memorable characters like Yogi Bear, The Flinstones, The Jetsons, Huckleberry Hound, Scooby-Doo, and Jabberjaw (well, the last one was only memorable to me, I think). Hanna died in 2001, so this is the end of an era.

The AP obituary for Barbera mentioned that his strengths, according to Leonard Maltin, were comic gags and the ability to capture emotion with subtle drawing techniques (never thought HB cartoons were subtle, huh?), while Hanna was good at timing and conveying warmth. Say what you will about how they cheapened animation with their TV cartoons, especially the ones from the seventies; they've inspired many an animator in the last fifty-plus years.

Apologies for being late with this news, but Chris Hayward, known to cartoon fans as the creator of Dudley Do-right and to others as the co-creator of The Munsters passed away on November 20 at the age of 81. Hayward wrote for Jay Ward Productions, starting with Crusader Rabbit and later writing for Rocky and Bullwinkle, the show where Dudley Do-Right, a moral Canadian Mountie whose love interest was more interested in his horse than him, first appeared.

His live-action credits include creating The Munsters with Allan Burns, and winning Emmys for writing on both Barney Miller and The Hero. He also wrote for Alice, My Mother the Car, 77 Sunset Strip and Get Smart.

I'm a big Jay Ward fan, but had you mentioned the name "Chris Hayward" to me before today I wouldn't know who you were talking about. Still, I think his career is worth remembering, as it reflects a time even before The Simpsons when cartoons could be just as smart and funny as any live-action sitcom.