This was way too much fun.
Dec. 29th, 2009 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ramblin_rosieHappy birthday to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
obeliamedusa, surgicalsteel, and my very dear mumstheword54!
1. Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some tv show idea. (Science fiction show, medical drama, criminal procedure, etc...)
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them.
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal.
My prompt frombeloved_tree was "a situational comedy set in English academia." So with the disclaimer that I haven't seen a sitcom more recent than The Cosby Show and that my knowledge of current actors is predictably limited, and a note that since I don't have Photobucket, I've just listed IMDb links for actors' names, I give you...
Tenure Track
Being the life of the English department of Agarita Baptist University
Regular Cast
Jensen Ackles as Dr. Kurt Hauschild
Zooey Deschanel as Dr. Bess Bennett
Jared Padalecki as Don Jefferson
Elyse Levesque as Melissa Jefferson
Ben Barnes as Dr. Mac McDonald
Alaina Huffman as Dr. Addy McDonald
Kurt Hauschild has just returned to the US after spending three years in the UK getting his PhD and is about to start his first academic job, a tenure-track position at small, conservative Agarita Baptist University, somewhere in West Texas. Not only does he have to re-adjust to life in the States, he also has to deal with the crazy faculty members and grad students waiting for him there, not to mention being rooked into being on the chair search committee, plus the usual grind of publishing and attending conferences. Can his fellow young profs (neighbors all) keep him sane, and can he evade the hordes of single women determined to get an MRS this year?
Regular Cast
Kurt Hauschild (Jensen Ackles)
Assistant Professor, 19th-century British and Genre Fiction
BA, John Brown University
MA, Cambridge University
PhD, University of St. Andrews
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a PhD in English must be in want of a wife—and tenure. Kurt had a couple of girlfriends in undergrad and a couple more during the miserable years he taught high school, but he has so far managed to dodge the women who were more interested in getting an MRS than an MA. Still, now that he’s back from three years in Scotland, his surname may as well be Darcy. His non-academic tastes include Halo, Call of Duty, and any TV show created by Joss Whedon or J. J. Abrams; he actually met David Tennant at a pub in Edinburgh and had a long chat with him, which makes him the envy of his friends. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, he writes wildly popular fanfiction for Firefly.
Elizabeth Bennett (Zooey Deschanel)
Assistant Professor, Medieval British, Medieval Theology, Inklings, Religion and Lit
BA, Bob Jones University
PhD, Baylor University
Yes, really, but she goes by Bess, and she hates Austen—Dickens for her, thanks much. This is her second year at ABU. Unlike most of the women in the department, Bess prefers to live alone with her Irish wolfhound Huan, though she alternates between being happily single and despairing of ever finding a suitably intelligent husband, since all the men in the religion department are married. She enjoys baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet, especially when the Chevy is being driven by Richard Hammond; she gets digital cable solely for BBC America and the Military Channel. She is also heavily into historical reenactments and would join the local SCA shire if there were one. Unbeknownst to her colleagues, she is an award-winning author of Stargate SG-1 fanfiction and writes for Pajamas Media under a pseudonym.
Don Jefferson (Jared Padalecki)
BSEd, Tarleton State University
MSEd, Howard Payne University
Assistant Professor, Track and Field
The new track coach, whose wife is in the English PhD program, Don finds himself bemused by her nerdy friends but is usually able to hold his own in conversations about books he’s actually read. And he’s read more than you’d think, though his favorite writer is Stephen J. Cannell. Don and Kurt play basketball together on the weekends.
Melissa Jefferson (Elyse Levesque)
BSEd, Tarleton State University
MA, Howard Payne University
PhD student, Contemporary American
When Melissa met Don in undergrad, she thought he was just a typical jock—until they took a Shakespeare class together. By the end of that semester, they were engaged. The fact that he puts up with her dragging him to English department functions only endears him to her more. Chicana Lit is her main interest at the moment, but Don’s only half joking when he tells people it’s more like chick lit. Remarkably, Melissa is the only female grad student who does not have one of four common names.
Angus “Mac” McDonald (Ben Barnes)
PhD, Cambridge University
Associate Professor, Metaphysical Poetry, Religion and Lit
Friend of Kurt’s from Cambridge who was influential in getting him hired, often hosts game nights and brings friends over for Lost and 24. Happily married with two kids who might just be even smarter than their parents. Worries about Kurt’s dating life, or lack thereof. Mac and Bess have launched a crusade to start a real Religion and Lit concentration and are making all the right enemies in both departments.
Adelaide Briscoe “Addy” McDonald (Alaina Huffman)
PhD, Baylor University
Victorian Fiction (currently home with the kids)
Bess’ best friend from grad school, despite being an Austen fan. Stays busy taking care of her two children—Kurt is her replacement. Bess is about the only person in town who knows that Addy is related to Dolph Briscoe; she’s too friendly and down-to-earth for most people to guess that she’s from a ‘good’ family. Will occasionally call Kurt “Fitzwilliam,” which is probably a hint.
Other Faculty
Wilson Rand (Misha Collins)
Professor, Poet-in-Residence
PhD, Cornell University
Defines “the anxiety of influence” and drives his colleagues and students batty with his half-baked verse. Takes himself way too seriously. Single and will probably stay that way, especially if he drinks as much as did his hero, Dylan Thomas.
Tom Aberforth (Joe Flanigan)
Professor, Writer-in-Residence
MFA, Stanford University
Has far more fun teaching kids to write than actually writing himself, though he will crank out a novel every few years and has even won some awards. Managing editor of the student literary magazine and director of the Writing Center. Divorced, but has a girlfriend who teaches math at the private school where most of the faculty send their kids. Constantly needles Vince about having gone to “the Stanford of the East.”
“Ol’ Doc” Severensen (Peter Graves)
Professor Emeritus who still turns up once in a while to offer dubious advice to the young faculty members and grad students. Deaf as a post and getting senile. Nobody remembers what his specialty was, and he hasn’t published in thirty years. Some say he got his doctorate from a box of Cracker Jacks.
John Robert Tanner (Bill Cosby)
PhD, Oxford University
Professor, Anglo-Saxon; Graduate Program Director
Intimidatingly brilliant and ridiculously well read, despite his contention that English literature died in 1066. Yet once students get over the fact that he’s a major scholar and has forgotten more than they’ll ever learn, they find him to be warm, funny, and genuinely concerned for their futures. The grad students actually formed a fan club last year; “he’s wonderful,” sighs Bethany #3. His wife is the director of student publications.
Vince Carmichael (Ed Asner)
PhD, Harvard University
Professor, Literary Theory; Department Chair
A year away from retirement and smarting from the recent loss of his wife, Vince is a bitter old Marxist who is still mourning the fall of the Soviet Union and cannot understand why someone like Bess would actually embrace the oppressive patriarchal canon, never mind do something as interdisciplinary as Religion and Lit. Has a tendency to redness of face that leads students to fear his head will explode, even when he isn’t actually apoplectic. Zero people skills. Allergic to computers, forbids his students to use the Writing Center, and has an oddly strict definition of plagiarism.
Ted Cameron (Paul McGillion)
PhD, Notre Dame
Professor, Modern British (by which he means James Joyce)
A publishing machine, Ted is extremely popular with students despite having almost impossible requirements for his upper-level classes. He and his wife, a lecturer in PoliSci, co-sponsor the fencing team.
Harry Ferguson (David Hewlett)
PhD, Wake Forest University
Professor, Colonial American
Would rather be home with the kids than dealing with departmental politics, but he still takes time for his students, and they love him for it. Faculty sponsor for Sigma Tau Delta.
Hannah Grumby (Kate Hewlett)
PhD, University of California at Berkley
Lecturer, Early Modern British
Dedicated to the pursuit of strong feminist readings of the Tudor-era canon, blissfully unaware of how many potential majors she has alienated, and thinks Bess must be from another planet. Hannah has chosen not to take a tenure-track position because tenure is a tool of the oppressive patriarchal system to deny women their rightful place in academia. Can’t understand why Oxford UP won’t publish her books.
Jack Graham (Christopher Judge)
PhD, University of Chicago
Professor, Linguistics and Language Acquisition; Undergraduate Program Director
Master teacher and tea connoisseur, has been known to go off on slackers in anything from Ugaritic to Navajo. He and his wife host the department Bible study.
Lydia Graham (Rachel Luttrell)
PhD, Arizona State University
Associate Professor, Rhetoric and Composition; Director of Freshman Writing
The hostess with the mostest, Lydia is considering team-teaching a freshman comp series with her husband based on Stanley Fish’s model and doesn’t quite understand why Kurt, Bess, and Mac object.
DeLaina Pepper (Jewel Staite)
PhD, Tulane University
Assistant Professor, 19th-century American
Has set her cap for Kurt, but she hates sci-fi and he hates Thoreau. Has an evil cat named Emerson and a flatmate who teaches chemistry at the public high school.
Other Grad Students
Will Stoker (David Blue)
PhD candidate, Gothic Novels
The only eligible bachelor among the grad students, Will proves the rule that if a guy gets to the dissertation stage without having at least a few dates, there’s a good reason, and it’s not his face. A likeable clod and pretty good at teaching freshman comp, but there’s just something... off about him. Kurt has reluctantly agreed to be on his committee.
The Gingers—all brunettes, all too busy studying to have more of a life than the weekly departmental tea and sometimes Bible study; all have cats with literary names (Dorian, Darcy, Chesterton, etc.)
The Bethanys—quietly brilliant, have asked Bess to sponsor an official grad student quilting circle; one or two of them might have a crush on Kurt
The Mollys—party girls, still involved with sorority life as much as grad school allows; determined to land a date with Kurt
The Sarahs—organizers of the Friday Matinee Society; also determined to land a date with Kurt, but less obvious about it
:D
Any takers?
obeliamedusa, surgicalsteel, and my very dear mumstheword54!1. Comment to this post with "I surrender!" and I'll assign you the basis of some tv show idea. (Science fiction show, medical drama, criminal procedure, etc...)
2. Create a cast of characters, including the actors who'd play them.
3. Add in any actor photos, character bios and show synopsis that you want.
4. Post to your own journal.
My prompt from
beloved_tree was "a situational comedy set in English academia." So with the disclaimer that I haven't seen a sitcom more recent than The Cosby Show and that my knowledge of current actors is predictably limited, and a note that since I don't have Photobucket, I've just listed IMDb links for actors' names, I give you...Being the life of the English department of Agarita Baptist University
Regular Cast
Jensen Ackles as Dr. Kurt Hauschild
Zooey Deschanel as Dr. Bess Bennett
Jared Padalecki as Don Jefferson
Elyse Levesque as Melissa Jefferson
Ben Barnes as Dr. Mac McDonald
Alaina Huffman as Dr. Addy McDonald
Kurt Hauschild has just returned to the US after spending three years in the UK getting his PhD and is about to start his first academic job, a tenure-track position at small, conservative Agarita Baptist University, somewhere in West Texas. Not only does he have to re-adjust to life in the States, he also has to deal with the crazy faculty members and grad students waiting for him there, not to mention being rooked into being on the chair search committee, plus the usual grind of publishing and attending conferences. Can his fellow young profs (neighbors all) keep him sane, and can he evade the hordes of single women determined to get an MRS this year?
Regular Cast
Kurt Hauschild (Jensen Ackles)
Assistant Professor, 19th-century British and Genre Fiction
BA, John Brown University
MA, Cambridge University
PhD, University of St. Andrews
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a PhD in English must be in want of a wife—and tenure. Kurt had a couple of girlfriends in undergrad and a couple more during the miserable years he taught high school, but he has so far managed to dodge the women who were more interested in getting an MRS than an MA. Still, now that he’s back from three years in Scotland, his surname may as well be Darcy. His non-academic tastes include Halo, Call of Duty, and any TV show created by Joss Whedon or J. J. Abrams; he actually met David Tennant at a pub in Edinburgh and had a long chat with him, which makes him the envy of his friends. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, he writes wildly popular fanfiction for Firefly.
Elizabeth Bennett (Zooey Deschanel)
Assistant Professor, Medieval British, Medieval Theology, Inklings, Religion and Lit
BA, Bob Jones University
PhD, Baylor University
Yes, really, but she goes by Bess, and she hates Austen—Dickens for her, thanks much. This is her second year at ABU. Unlike most of the women in the department, Bess prefers to live alone with her Irish wolfhound Huan, though she alternates between being happily single and despairing of ever finding a suitably intelligent husband, since all the men in the religion department are married. She enjoys baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet, especially when the Chevy is being driven by Richard Hammond; she gets digital cable solely for BBC America and the Military Channel. She is also heavily into historical reenactments and would join the local SCA shire if there were one. Unbeknownst to her colleagues, she is an award-winning author of Stargate SG-1 fanfiction and writes for Pajamas Media under a pseudonym.
Don Jefferson (Jared Padalecki)
BSEd, Tarleton State University
MSEd, Howard Payne University
Assistant Professor, Track and Field
The new track coach, whose wife is in the English PhD program, Don finds himself bemused by her nerdy friends but is usually able to hold his own in conversations about books he’s actually read. And he’s read more than you’d think, though his favorite writer is Stephen J. Cannell. Don and Kurt play basketball together on the weekends.
Melissa Jefferson (Elyse Levesque)
BSEd, Tarleton State University
MA, Howard Payne University
PhD student, Contemporary American
When Melissa met Don in undergrad, she thought he was just a typical jock—until they took a Shakespeare class together. By the end of that semester, they were engaged. The fact that he puts up with her dragging him to English department functions only endears him to her more. Chicana Lit is her main interest at the moment, but Don’s only half joking when he tells people it’s more like chick lit. Remarkably, Melissa is the only female grad student who does not have one of four common names.
Angus “Mac” McDonald (Ben Barnes)
PhD, Cambridge University
Associate Professor, Metaphysical Poetry, Religion and Lit
Friend of Kurt’s from Cambridge who was influential in getting him hired, often hosts game nights and brings friends over for Lost and 24. Happily married with two kids who might just be even smarter than their parents. Worries about Kurt’s dating life, or lack thereof. Mac and Bess have launched a crusade to start a real Religion and Lit concentration and are making all the right enemies in both departments.
Adelaide Briscoe “Addy” McDonald (Alaina Huffman)
PhD, Baylor University
Victorian Fiction (currently home with the kids)
Bess’ best friend from grad school, despite being an Austen fan. Stays busy taking care of her two children—Kurt is her replacement. Bess is about the only person in town who knows that Addy is related to Dolph Briscoe; she’s too friendly and down-to-earth for most people to guess that she’s from a ‘good’ family. Will occasionally call Kurt “Fitzwilliam,” which is probably a hint.
Other Faculty
Wilson Rand (Misha Collins)
Professor, Poet-in-Residence
PhD, Cornell University
Defines “the anxiety of influence” and drives his colleagues and students batty with his half-baked verse. Takes himself way too seriously. Single and will probably stay that way, especially if he drinks as much as did his hero, Dylan Thomas.
Tom Aberforth (Joe Flanigan)
Professor, Writer-in-Residence
MFA, Stanford University
Has far more fun teaching kids to write than actually writing himself, though he will crank out a novel every few years and has even won some awards. Managing editor of the student literary magazine and director of the Writing Center. Divorced, but has a girlfriend who teaches math at the private school where most of the faculty send their kids. Constantly needles Vince about having gone to “the Stanford of the East.”
“Ol’ Doc” Severensen (Peter Graves)
Professor Emeritus who still turns up once in a while to offer dubious advice to the young faculty members and grad students. Deaf as a post and getting senile. Nobody remembers what his specialty was, and he hasn’t published in thirty years. Some say he got his doctorate from a box of Cracker Jacks.
John Robert Tanner (Bill Cosby)
PhD, Oxford University
Professor, Anglo-Saxon; Graduate Program Director
Intimidatingly brilliant and ridiculously well read, despite his contention that English literature died in 1066. Yet once students get over the fact that he’s a major scholar and has forgotten more than they’ll ever learn, they find him to be warm, funny, and genuinely concerned for their futures. The grad students actually formed a fan club last year; “he’s wonderful,” sighs Bethany #3. His wife is the director of student publications.
Vince Carmichael (Ed Asner)
PhD, Harvard University
Professor, Literary Theory; Department Chair
A year away from retirement and smarting from the recent loss of his wife, Vince is a bitter old Marxist who is still mourning the fall of the Soviet Union and cannot understand why someone like Bess would actually embrace the oppressive patriarchal canon, never mind do something as interdisciplinary as Religion and Lit. Has a tendency to redness of face that leads students to fear his head will explode, even when he isn’t actually apoplectic. Zero people skills. Allergic to computers, forbids his students to use the Writing Center, and has an oddly strict definition of plagiarism.
Ted Cameron (Paul McGillion)
PhD, Notre Dame
Professor, Modern British (by which he means James Joyce)
A publishing machine, Ted is extremely popular with students despite having almost impossible requirements for his upper-level classes. He and his wife, a lecturer in PoliSci, co-sponsor the fencing team.
Harry Ferguson (David Hewlett)
PhD, Wake Forest University
Professor, Colonial American
Would rather be home with the kids than dealing with departmental politics, but he still takes time for his students, and they love him for it. Faculty sponsor for Sigma Tau Delta.
Hannah Grumby (Kate Hewlett)
PhD, University of California at Berkley
Lecturer, Early Modern British
Dedicated to the pursuit of strong feminist readings of the Tudor-era canon, blissfully unaware of how many potential majors she has alienated, and thinks Bess must be from another planet. Hannah has chosen not to take a tenure-track position because tenure is a tool of the oppressive patriarchal system to deny women their rightful place in academia. Can’t understand why Oxford UP won’t publish her books.
Jack Graham (Christopher Judge)
PhD, University of Chicago
Professor, Linguistics and Language Acquisition; Undergraduate Program Director
Master teacher and tea connoisseur, has been known to go off on slackers in anything from Ugaritic to Navajo. He and his wife host the department Bible study.
Lydia Graham (Rachel Luttrell)
PhD, Arizona State University
Associate Professor, Rhetoric and Composition; Director of Freshman Writing
The hostess with the mostest, Lydia is considering team-teaching a freshman comp series with her husband based on Stanley Fish’s model and doesn’t quite understand why Kurt, Bess, and Mac object.
DeLaina Pepper (Jewel Staite)
PhD, Tulane University
Assistant Professor, 19th-century American
Has set her cap for Kurt, but she hates sci-fi and he hates Thoreau. Has an evil cat named Emerson and a flatmate who teaches chemistry at the public high school.
Other Grad Students
Will Stoker (David Blue)
PhD candidate, Gothic Novels
The only eligible bachelor among the grad students, Will proves the rule that if a guy gets to the dissertation stage without having at least a few dates, there’s a good reason, and it’s not his face. A likeable clod and pretty good at teaching freshman comp, but there’s just something... off about him. Kurt has reluctantly agreed to be on his committee.
The Gingers—all brunettes, all too busy studying to have more of a life than the weekly departmental tea and sometimes Bible study; all have cats with literary names (Dorian, Darcy, Chesterton, etc.)
The Bethanys—quietly brilliant, have asked Bess to sponsor an official grad student quilting circle; one or two of them might have a crush on Kurt
The Mollys—party girls, still involved with sorority life as much as grad school allows; determined to land a date with Kurt
The Sarahs—organizers of the Friday Matinee Society; also determined to land a date with Kurt, but less obvious about it
:D
Any takers?
