A Grander World: A Collaborative TL

[DucNguyen0131]

August 23, 1998: That '70s Show made its debut on the Fox television network.

September 7, 1998: Pearson Television, whose recent acquisition last year was the $373 million offer for All American Communications, made a cash offer to purchase independent television producer Carsey-Werner Productions for $425 million, in an effort to increase its production activity.

December 9, 1998: Following on its Carsey-Werner acquisition, Pearson Television made a deal to purchase The Kushner-Locke Company for $210 million.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

January 7, 1998: Viacom agrees to sell Spelling Entertainment Group to Pearson Television for $1.5 billion, making it Pearson's largest acquisition to date. Viacom also bought out Virgin Interactive from Spelling, while folding Simon & Schuster Interactive into Virgin.

January 12, 1998: The third season of Space: Above and Beyond premieres on Fox, uninterrupted.

May 5, 1998: Fox announced that they would renew the smash hit Relativity for a third season.

October 9, 1998: The third season of Relativity made its debut on the Fox television network.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

September 18, 2000: To Tell the Truth returns in syndication, with John O'Hurley as the host.

October 5, 2009: After Guiding Light was cancelled, CBS premiered a new version of the 1970s instant hit Match Game at 3:00 p.m. with Wayne Brady as host (OTL it was a revival of Let's Make a Deal instead), and featured a standard panel of six celebrities for the first week (Julianna Margulies, Laurence Fishburne, Neil Patrick Harris, Jenna Elfman, Jim Parsons and Pauley Perrette).

May 23, 2010: Simon Monjack has been rescued in his house, thus being survived after being hospitalized by the LA Fire Department.

June 29, 2016: Let's Make a Deal was revived on ABC, who was the show's home from 1968 to 1976, with Alec Baldwin as host as part of the "Sunday Fun and Games" block, and follows the same format they had been using since its debut in 1963 (OTL it was a revival of Match Game instead).

 

[kaijudirector]

June 13, 1998: Michael Jordan wins his sixth and final championship in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. In the last seconds of the game, Jordan dunks from the United Center's free-throw line and scores the winning basket with zero seconds on the clock. This is forever remembered simply as "The Dunk". Jordan also wins his sixth Finals MVP award. (OTL it was at the Delta Center, the Jazz's home arena, and Jordan made a final shot with six seconds to spare.)

June 16, 1999: After years in development hell, Ghostbusters III finally premieres, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring the original cast. Despite Harold Raimis being reluctant to work with Bill Murray after Groundhog Day, the two repair their relationship over the course of filming. They remain friends to this day. The film ends with the original Ghostbusters passing the torch to the cast of the 1997 animated show Extreme Ghostbusters, leading to the show's revival as The Real Extreme Ghostbusters. It lasts until 2002. The combined run of both shows totals 140 episodes (just like original The Real Ghostbusters show).

November 2, 2016: In Game 7 of the MLB finasThe Chicago Cubs win their first World Series in 108 years at Wrigley Field against the Cleveland Guardians (OTL it was in Cleveland and the rename didn't happen yet. Here the Cubbies had home field advantage in Game 1).

June 13, 2019: The Toronto Raptors win their first NBA Championship at Toronto's ScotiaBank arena in their fifth game against the Golden State Warriors. Kyle Lowry makes the winning bucket despite being guarded by Golden State's Draymond Green. (OTL he missed and there was a Game 6 in Oakland.) Kawahi Leonard is named Finals MVP.

January 26, 2020: Kobe Bryant decides not to ride on his helicopter with his daughter Gianna, due to poor weather conditions. (OTL the copter took off and it crashed, killing all aboard).

June 2020: The Los Angeles Lakers win their 17th NBA Championship against the Boston Celtics in a Game 6 at the Staples Center. This championship win against their perennial rivals finally lets them tie the Celtics' 17-title record. (COVID is butterflied away here, so no shortened season. Also, the Celtics are not eliminated by the Miami Heat).

 

[Inferno60]

How would the Lakers beat the Pistons in the 04 Finals? In real life the Pistons played as a team, while the Lakers had all their drama.

 

[Inferno60]

And also, how in the world would the 8 seed Knicks beat the Spurs in the 99 Finals? The only way I see it is Ewing being healthy. Even then, that may take the series to 6 or 7 but I don't see the Knicks winning.

 

[kaijudirector]

And also, how in the world would the 8 seed Knicks beat the Spurs in the 99 Finals? The only way I see it is Ewing being healthy. Even then, that may take the series to 6 or 7 but I don't see the Knicks winning.

I wrote that Ewing did stay healthy. The series will go 7 games. To be honest it's just some silly fantasy perpetrated by me. Anything goes, I guess.

I suppose I can edit away the Lakers winning in '05.

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

May 8, 1999: Former child actress Dana Plato is hospitalized after a near fatal drug overdose in Moore, Oklahoma, inspiring her to later turn her life around and check into rehab for her drug addiction.

October 6, 1999: Professional wrestler Robert James Morella, aka Gorilla Monsoon, is hospitalized in New Jersey due to a near fatal incident of heart failure.

June 25, 2009: Singer Michael Jackson is hospitalized after a near fatal drug overdose in Los Angeles. His This Is It tour, which was expected to start the following month, is pushed back indefinitely while he recovers in the hospital and later rehab.

May 26, 2010: Actor Gary Coleman is hospitalized in Provo, Utah, after falling down the stairs and hitting his head - after staying a few days in the hospital with no further issues, he is eventually released.

February 10, 2012: Whitney Houston is resuscitated by paramedics after nearly drowning in a hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills, California, with a near fatal cocaine use being contributed to the cause of her drowning - Houston later checks into rehab for drug addiction.

June 19, 2013: Actor James Gandolfini is hospitalized after a near fatal heart attack at a hotel in Rome, Italy.

July 13, 2013: Actor Corey Monteith is hospitalized after a near fatal drug overdose in Vancouver, Canada.

July 6, 2019: Actor Cameron Boyce is hospitalized after having a near fatal seizure at his home in Los Angeles, prompting Boyce to later reveal his history of being diagnosed with epilepsy.

July 26, 2019: Russi Taylor, voice actress of Minnie Mouse, announces that her colon cancer has successfully gone into remission, after being diagnosed with it earlier than OTL and thus being able to better combat it.

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

Also, I have an idea, but I currently don’t have any dates for it - the films Dragonball Evolution (2009), Avatar: The Last Airbender (2010) and Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), which are all infamous for being unfaithful to their original source material, all get rewritten during production by their respective original creators, who get involved on the production teams of their respective films after they disapprove of the direction the teams are taking their movies. Because of this, the films wind up getting rewritten from near scratch to be much more faithful to the source material, and wind up becoming a lot more popular with viewers as a result when they’re released.

The only issue I have with this idea, and it’s pretty minor actually, is that with the films being rewritten from near scratch, that’d put off the release dates by a few more years, and I don’t know how long that’d take. But other than that minor issue, I think it’d be a good idea.

 

[kaijudirector]

Also, I have an idea, but I currently don’t have any dates for it - the films Dragonball Evolution (2009), Avatar: The Last Airbender (2010) and Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), which are all infamous for being unfaithful to their original source material, all get rewritten during production by their respective original creators, who get involved on the production teams of their respective films after they disapprove of the direction the teams are taking their movies. Because of this, the films wind up getting rewritten from near scratch to be much more faithful to the source material, and wind up becoming a lot more popular with viewers as a result when they’re released.

The only issue I have with this idea, and it’s pretty minor actually, is that with the films being rewritten from near scratch, that’d put off the release dates by a few more years, and I don’t know how long that’d take. But other than that minor issue, I think it’d be a good idea.

I wrote the live-action Last Airbender was canceled. It was replaced with an animated movie from the animated show's cast and crew.

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

I wrote the live-action Last Airbender was canceled. It was replaced with an animated movie from the animated show's cast and crew.

Alright, that's fine. I must've missed that before when I was reading this. Will the other 2 films still work with my idea?

 

[kaijudirector]

Alright, that's fine. I must've missed that before when I was reading this. Will the other 2 films still work with my idea?

Sure, why not.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

November 30, 2013: Paul Walker was hospitalized after injuries that was survived from an attempt to do a single-vehicle collision in Santa Clarita.

June 19, 2016: Anton Yelchin was hospitalized after a blunt traumatic asphyxia that happened in Los Angeles.

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

January 5, 1998: Sonny Bono has a near death experience as he almost collides with a tree during a ski trip at the Heavenly Mountain Resort in South Lake Tahoe, California - Bono thankfully misses the tree as he is able to swerve out of the way just in time.

Some point, late 2001-early 2002: Sonny Bono announces his intentions to run for governor of California in the 2002 gubernatorial election.

November 5, 2002: Sonny Bono wins the 2002 California gubernatorial election, defeating democratic incumbent Gray Davis.

November 7, 2006: Sonny Bono wins re-election as governor in the 2006 California gubernatorial election, defeating democratic candidate Phil Angelides.

December 25, 2008: Actress and singer Eartha Kitt announces that her colon cancer has successfully gone into remission, after being diagnosed with it earlier than OTL and thus being able to better combat it.

February 11, 2015: CBS correspondent Bob Simon is hospitalized after a near fatal car accident in Manhattan, New York.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

April 1, 1999: Pearson Television outbid CBS in the purchase of King World Productions for $3.1 billion, the largest ever held by Pearson for such television deals. This would gave Pearson the distribution rights of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, among IPs such as Baywatch, Match Game and the pending Family Feud.

October 27, 2003: Rod Roddy has been hospitalized after facing colon cancer, which has successfully gone into remission.

January 5, 2004: The Big Surprise premiered on The WB, it was produced by Phil Gurin of The Gurin Company in association with Michael Davies of Diplomatic Productions. It was a revival of the 1950s NBC game show, with a $1,000,000 top prize.

 

[SomeGuyOnline]

October 23, 1998: Halloween: 20 Years Later is released in theaters. Directed by Steve Miner and written by Kevin Williamson, John Carpenter had absolutely no involvement at all with production of the film, after reportedly refusing to get involved due to him not wanting to focus on Michael Myers himself anymore. The movie, taking place 20 years after Halloween (1978) and ignoring all future films in the franchise, features an alive Michael Myers escaping from Smith’s Grove Sanitarium once again on Halloween 1998 and returning to Haddonfield for a killing spree - meanwhile, a prepared Laurie Strode plans to find and stop Michael’s massacre once and for all, while he proceeds to stalk Laurie’s teenage son John and his classmates as they celebrate Halloween. The movie is said by many fans of the franchise to have been made as “fan service” for those who were unsatisfied with Halloween III and 1995’s Halloween IV, and wanted to see Michael Myers and Laurie Strode as the main characters again. The film garners mostly positive reviews from fans, though it is mixed with critics. Just shortly after the film’s release, Miner announces that two sequel films, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends, are already in the works.

(A/N: Basically this is my version of Halloween H20 ITTL, combining elements of the real life H20 film with the 2018 Halloween movie as well)

 

[DucNguyen0131]

October 5, 1998: Seagram agrees to sell all of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to Pearson Television for $4.5 billion, making it Pearson's first foray into the film business.

November 13, 1998: I Still Know What You Did Last Summer was released to theaters, and it was directed by Danny Cannon, and written by Trey Callaway (Basically this is my version of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer TTL, combining elements of the real-life film with the subsequent 2006 DTV sequel and the TV show as well).

December 5, 1998: Pearson agrees to merge its TV division with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to set up Pearson Entertainment Group.

 

[TheMann]

How would the Lakers beat the Pistons in the 04 Finals? In real life the Pistons played as a team, while the Lakers had all their drama.

Karl Malone turns back the clock in the finals? IOTL Ben Wallace and Shaq basically cancelled each other out and the Pistons' brutish defense held back Kobe, and Malone and Gary Payton and company couldn't carry it on their own. If Malone can turn back the clock Payton can be the ball handler, giving the Pistons a real problem as they can't stop Shaq, Kobe and Malone all at the same time.

 

[Inferno60]

But Malone was injured and I doubt that he would have been able to help.

 

[DucNguyen0131]

September 4, 2000: Trevor Sauer made history when he became the first millionaire on the Australian Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (OTL he simply walked away with $500,000).