Jeopardy (7 December 1993)
According to the now-defunct "Pynchon Files," one of the "questions" to an answer on the 7 December 1993 TV game show Jeopardy was "Who is Thomas Pynchon." If anyone has any more specific information, please email it to us!
The John Larroquette Show (1993-96)
On NBC for three seasons from 1993-1996, "The John Larroquette Show" began as an edgy, slightly dark comedy with a sharp cast of characters and a generally intellectual tone. Larroquette -- the effete and deliciously sleazy lawyer from "Night Court" -- played a recovering alcoholic and writer named John Hemingway. Forced to manage a run-down bus station in St. Louis, Hemingway continued to pursue his writing aspirations amidst a cast of eccentrics and social misfits, all the while coming to terms with his previous days as an alcoholic. Themes included racism, substance abuse, corruption, and sexuality; unfortunately, the network demanded incresingly more compromises, and the show was essentially neutered and made ineffectual by its final season.
Although there were many factors that elevated the writing on "The John Larroquette Show" well above average, one of them was the literary proclivities of Larroquette himself, an avowed fan of writers such as Thomas Pynchon, Samuel Beckett and William Faulkner. The show made several passing references to Pynchon, but the most specifically "Pynchonian" episode was Episode 11, airing in 1994 and titled "Newcomer." Guest-starring David Crosby, the plot had Hemingway's new girlfriend joining Alcoholics Anonymous and swearing off sex for six months. At one point, reference was made to a "Pynchon sighting," describing the reclusive author as wearing a Roky Erickson T-shirt; at another point, a character quotes Roger Mexico from Gravity's Rainbow. New York magazine's Nancy Jo Sales describes Don Reo, head writer for the show, attempting to gain approval from Pynchon for the script, which originally placed the writer in a Willy DeVille shirt:
"I got a call from Pynchon's agent saying Pynchon liked the script, but he wanted a couple of changes. First you call him Tom, and no one ever calls him Tom. Second, although he likes Willy DeVille he would prefer if it were a T-shirt with Roky Erickson of the 13th Floor Elevators."
Locus (April 1994) reported a further provision that Pynchon not be represented on screen in any way, as originally the script called for the back of an extra to be filmed walking away. Some further notes on this by Richard Lane:
Willy DeVille was leader of Mink DeVille, New York based band first featured on the infamous 1976 Live at CBGB's album, that didn't feature ANY CB's bands you wanted to hear -- Television, Talking Heads, Ramones, etc. Their most well known song "Spanish Stroll" may stir a memory. DeVille had moved to New Orleans in the Eighties, and had made a tribute album to New Orleans 50's R&B. Larroquette is an extremely vocal New Orleans native and supporter, and DeVille's link with Dr. John, another Larroquette name-check, may provide the reference.
Roky Erickson in 1964 founded The Spades under the name Emile Schwartze. In 1965 the seventeen year old joined Austin's 13th Floor Elevators, creating a relatively obscure pinnacle of Psychedelic music. Stephan P. Brown, publisher of the great Science Fiction Eye magazine, told me that at one time Janis Joplin had a choice between joining the biggest act in Texas, the Elevators; or an unknown band in San Francisco. In 1969 Erickson, a prodigious drug taker, faced with jail time for a number of marijuana arrests, copped an insanity plea, and was sent to the Texas Hospital for the Insane. There, three years of licensed drug experiments, electric shock treatments, and hundreds of past acid trips combined to produce a truly damaged individual. Roky has since released a number of solo records, had his lyrics published by admirer Henry Rollins, and an early book of poetry under the name Rev. Roger Roky Kynard Erickson. He still lives in Austin, still mentally and financially troubled. A tribute compilation of covers called Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye featured R.E.M. and ZZ Top.
Melanie Jackson's proviso -- that Pynchon not be referred to as Tom -- is odd, since Pynchon himself signed letters that way, his mother called him Tom Jr, and former publisher and friend Michael Naumann calls him Tom.
There are a few other Pynchon-notable moments in the show. In one episode, Heminmgway tries to distract his love interest in his appartment by thrusting a first edition of Gravity's Rainbow into her hand. She replies "Wow," and is apparently so stunned by the book that Larroquette can carry on whatever farcical goings-on needed fixing. When Hemmingway's long-lost hippie daughter (played by "Blossom" star Mayim Bialik) turns up, he discovers she's been using the name Rachel Owlglass. He askes her, "Do you know there's a Thomas Pynchon character named that?" To which she replies, "Yes, I know, from V., I chose it myself." On another episode, an author who Hemingway ranks as a favorite "next to Thomas Pynchon" turns out to be unworthy of his idolatry.
For more on Larroquette's interest in Pynchon and other literature, feel free to read this article from Biblio. For more information about The John Larroquette Show, visit TV Tome.
Pearl (1996-97)
Although it ran for only one season, Pearl was a fairly witty show featuring Rhea Pearlman as a sharp, blue-collar mother attending college with students half her age. The show's main thrust came from the tension experienced between her character -- Mrs. Pearl Caraldo -- and a particularly acerbic, intelligent and elitist literature professor played to the hilt by a snowy-haired Malcolm McDowell. The name of the tyrannical professor? Stephen Pynchon. The fact that "Pearl" was the next show produced by Paul Junger Witt, the executive producer of "The John Larroquette Show," indicates this might be more than just coincidence. [TV Tome]
Deep Space Nine (1997)
According to Dave Monroe of the Pynchon List, a Season Five episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine might be a loose parody of Pynchon's The Crying of Lot 49. Airing on June 9, 1997, Episode 523 bears the title "In the Cards," and details the efforts of the Captain's son, Jake, in acquiring a rare baseball trading card.
The following synopsis is from Psi Phi:
"As the Dominion threat to the Alpha Quadrant
intensifies, Jake notices Sisko is growing
increasingly depressed. Hearing that Quark plans to
auction off a collection of antiquities that includes
a vintage Willie Mays baseball card, he decides
obtaining the card for his father is the perfect way
to lift his spirits. Jake persuades Nog to use his
life savings to bid on the collection, but a man named
Dr. Giger outbids them, taking the card and crushing
Jake's hopes.
"Jake and Nog approach Dr. Giger with an offer to buy
the card, but he refuses.
[...]
"After learning that Odo has no record of Giger being
on the station, Jake and Nog spot Kai Winn on the
Promemenade, talking with a man who bid against them
at the auction. Jake assumes they kidnapped Giger and
confronts Kai. This lands him and Nog in Sisko's
office where, determined to keep the baseball card a
secret, Jake tells his father they were drunk. Sisko
confines them to quarters, but on their way they are
suddenly transported to a Jem'Hadar interrogation
room.
"Jake and Nog explain their quest to obtain the
baseball card from Giger, who is being held captive,
but Weyoun believes they are plotting against him.
Desperate, Jake makes up a story about working for
Starfleet Intelligence. The tale is so preposterous
Weyoun decides he belives the first story. In fact, he
is actually interested in Giger's work! Weyoun lets
the boys take the baseball card, which, as Jake
predicted, succeeds in improving his father's mood."
As the Dominion threat to the Alpha Quadrant intensifies, Jake notices Sisko is growing increasingly depressed. Hearing that Quark plans to auction off a collection of antiquities that includes a vintage Willie Mays baseball card, he decides obtaining the card for his father is the perfect way to lift his spirits. Jake persuades Nog to use his life savings to bid on the collection, but a man named Dr. Giger outbids them, taking the card and crushing Jake's hopes.
Jake and Nog approach Dr. Giger with an offer to buy the card, but he refuses. However, after researching their backgrounds, Giger offers to trade them the card for various pieces of equipment and medical supplies. Upon Nog's insistence, Giger reveals he needs the items to develop a machine that will deliver eternal life by "entertaining" cells -- preventing them from dying of boredom. Jake's determination to get the cards leads them to agree to Giger's terms.
Meanwhile, Kai Winn meets with Dominion representative Weyoun on the station to discuss the Dominion's wish to sign a non-aggression treaty with Bajor. Sisko feels strongly that this would be an unwise move and convinces Winn to stall the proceedings. Later, Jake and Nog return to Giger's quarters with the last of the items he requested, only to find that Giger and his equipment are gone.
After learning that Odo has no record of Giger being on the station, Jake and Nog spot Kai Winn on the Promemenade, talking with a man who bid against them at the auction. Jake assumes they kidnapped Giger and confronts Kai. This lands him and Nog in Sisko's office where, determined to keep the baseball card a secret, Jake tells his father they were drunk. Sisko confines them to quarters, but on their way they are suddenly transported to a Jem'Hadar interrogation room.
Jake and Nog explain their quest to obtain the baseball card from Giger, who is being held captive, but Weyoun believes they are plotting against him. Desperate, Jake makes up a story about working for Starfleet Intelligence. The tale is so preposterous Weyoun decides he belives the first story. In fact, he is actually interested in Giger's work! Weyoun lets the boys take the baseball card, which, as Jake predicted, succeeds in improving his father's mood.
Although the plot bears a few loose similarities to Lot 49 -- a mysterious central figure, a shadowy "conspiracy," a sought-after rare collectible -- Thomas Pynchon is not listed anywhere in the official credits, and the connection could be entirely coincidental. In this case, feel free to file this entry under the "Smells Like Teen Spirit Department of Over-Reaching." But still, Weyoun is played by the eternally creepy Jeffrey Combs, star of The Reanimator, and we all know how trustworthy he is....
The Simpsons (2002)
We always knew that Gravity's Rainbow is an acid test for hip intellectual snobbery, so it was only a matter of time before Lisa Simpson found herself measured and wanting. In Season 14 of "The Simpsons," Pynchon gets referenced in an episode called "Little Girl in the Big Ten," airing 12 May 2002. Lisa is happy to discover that she can pass for a greatly accelerated college student, and spends quite a lot of time being dazzled by the intellectualism of campus life, from taking in a Pinsky reading ("The Coletrane of the quatrain") to spying an "average" girl's reading material -- a copy of Gravity's Rainbow sitting on a lockerroom bench:
Lisa Simpson (in awe): "Are you reading Gravity's Rainbow?"
College Girl (snidely): "Well, rereading."
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