Real TV shows mentioned within a fictional context

[hubcity]

On "Murphy Brown", it became a running gag that she never kept a secretary for long (in fact, they only ever appeared in one episode.)

On "Seinfeld", Kramer leaves New York to seek fame and fortune in Hollywood...only to be cast on "Murphy Brown" as Murphy's secretary. (It was an interesting situation at the time, since it was a cross-network crossover.)

Here's that clip from "Seinfeld": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6ypmo9k1TI

And as a bonus (aheh), here's the DVD bonus feature about the episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86OSsCMw7xg

...which includes the scene from another Diane English sitcom, "Love & War" (starring Jay Thomas and Susan Dey) where Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David review a script "written by" one of the characters on "Love & War".

 

[FredLeonard]

And once, on "Murphy Brown," Bob tries to get Carol (Marcia Wallace) to give up her
job as Murphy's secretary and come back to work for him.

That one was a cross-over rather than "real TV shows mentioned in a fictional context." Unless you plan on counting every TV show in the Tommy Westphall Universe (which includes most shows ever on TV).

 

[Braves2005]

All In The Family - when Archie first meets Louise Jefferson he asks her "How did you like The Julia Show (Diahann Carroll) last night?" to which Louise replies "Just fine, how did you like Doris Day? (who had her own sitcom at the time)"

Green Acres - Oliver mentions Hee Haw sometime in the last season.

Family Guy - Peter mentions all of the FOX series that were cancelled from 2002 to 2005 when Family Guy was cancelled the first time and came back in 2005.

 

[skippercollector]

What about the Alan Brady Show?

What about The Alan Brady Show? It was mentioned on Mad About You, and I know I've heard it mentioned on at least one other series in which the characters talked about watching it, as if it had been a real series.

 

[BD Sullivan]

In the last season of Sanford & Son, Fred, Lamont, Donna and Bubba appear on The Gong Show.

 

[cd637299]

In the last season of Sanford & Son, Fred, Lamont, Donna and Bubba appear on The Gong Show.

As did the cast of "What's Happening!!", and the classic Carol Burnett bit as her Eunice character, belting out "Feelings" the best she could, only to get the gong.

cd

 

[cd637299]

It may have been one of the "lost" Honeymooners eps, where Ralph insulted Alice by saying she oughta go on a game show where he'd love to watch---the show was called "Down You Go," and the show actually existed.

As far as cast of one show appearing on actual game shows (albeit with inexpensive set costs on many of them), besides the Odd Couple ones mentioned:

"227" on Family Feud
"Angie" on Family Feud
Mama from "Mama's Family" on Family Feud
"Sanford & Son" on Let's Make a Deal (I think)

I cannot think of others right now, but there oughta be many more.

cd

 

[F.M.Hertz]

In the last season of Sanford & Son, Fred, Lamont, Donna and Bubba appear on The Gong Show.

Fred and Lamont were also in the audience of "The Tonight Show." Maybe in that same episode.

This might be a stretch but on "The Flintstones," Samantha and Darren from "Bewitched" once moved next door to Fred and Wilma. There was also the time when either Fred was in the hospital where Drs. Casey and Zorba were on staff. (It could have been they were watching "Ben Casey" on TV.) Who can forget the time that the Beau Brummelstones were on "Shinrock" with Jimmy O'Nealstone. It was broadcast over ABC, The Abba Dabba Broadcasting Company.

There was also the episode of "Happy Days" where Richie was backstage at the "Howdy Doody Show" and snapped a picture of Clarabell without his makeup.

 

[cd637299]

I goofed....Mama from "Mama's Family" was on Jeopardy.

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[johnbasalla]

There's a whole TV watching episode of The Honeymooners where Ralph and Ed are fighting over who should control the set. Norton wants to watch "Captain Video and His Video Rangers". He even has his space helmet with him.

 

[jwk1979]

It may have been one of the "lost" Honeymooners eps, where Ralph insulted Alice by saying she oughta go on a game show where he'd love to watch---the show was called "Down You Go," and the show actually existed.

As far as cast of one show appearing on actual game shows (albeit with inexpensive set costs on many of them), besides the Odd Couple ones mentioned:
"Sanford & Son" on Let's Make a Deal (I think)

I cannot think of others right now, but there oughta be many more.

cd

It wasn't "Let's Make a Deal" because it wasn't Monte Hall as the emcee. It was a show that was suppose to be very much like "Let's Make a Deal", though.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Family Guy - Peter mentions all of the FOX series that were cancelled from 2002 to 2005 when Family Guy was cancelled the first time and came back in 2005.

Family Guy makes very frequent references to other shows, on FOX and other networks:

- Several references to Jeopardy!, including the infamous "Kebert Xela" response from Adam West.
- Peter Griffin appeared on Wheel of Fortune and won; I believe this was when Consuela was introduced to the series
- Several references to TPiR, both with Bob Barker and Drew Carey. In one more recent episode, Peter is on the show and spins the Big Wheel so hard it unlatches and rolls through the studio, killing many audience members.

Law & Order: SVU occasionally makes references to various NBC properties. One episode included a character played by Robin Williams appearing on Morning Joe. Other episodes have referenced WNBC newscasts.

 

[cd637299]

An episode of the live action "Dennis the Menace" mentioned the series December Bride with actress Spring Byington appearing as herself. I had never seen (or even heard of) D.B. the first time I saw this ep, and I learned that D.B. was cancelled by the time this ep aired!

I do have 2 eps of D.B. now, from Shokus Video---it wasn't a bad series, but it just looks like another "Lucy & Ethel" kinda humor---it was a Desilu production, after all.

(Then there was "The Mothers-in-Law" a decade later.....from Desi Arnaz. Pretty much the same plot, eh?)

cd

 

[rnigma1]

The all time champ has to be the "Green Acres" episode where the Hooterville Players staged a production of "The Beverly Hillbillies".

Maybe this should be a separate category - continuity shifts. In this episode, the Hillbillies are a TV show. In later cross-over episodes, the Hillbillies are in the same fictional universe as "Hootersville" and are real

In another "Green Acres" episode, Haney sells Oliver a photo of the Hillbillies that lights up in the dark... and disturbs Oliver's sleep.

 

[anotherguyTN]

There was also an episode of Cheers where Cliff is a contestant on Jeopardy.

I believe there was an episode of MASH where Sidney Freedman is visiting and Radar (I believe) is talking to him abut thinking he's going crazy. Sidney makes a comment about how some otherwise sane people believe I Love Lucy is real. Also it seems like there may have been an episode that had a clip of the Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any f this.

 

[onairb]

There was also a later-seasons episode of MASH where a visiting comedian in a USO troupe mentions 'Ed Sullivan...Toast of the Town', and Potter has no idea who or what that means.

 

[onairb]

On the Brady Bunch, Bobby once mentioned watching a lot of Mission: Impossible and Alice mentioned Owen Marshall and I think another show that I can't recall.

The show's title wasn't mentioned, but Marcia referred to Mike Connors as 'dreamy' in one episode...she didn't say what she thought of that actor who resembled her dad, who played the police lieutenant. ;D

 

[onairb]

On an episode of All in the Family, Edith is describing an episode of Perry Mason where Raymond Burr jumps up to object. She then adds, "He don't jump up no more"--Burr was starring as wheelchair-bound Ironside at the time.

On the early 80's CBS series, "Nurse," which starred a post-Waltons Michael Learned, the producers were obviously Three Stooges fans since one scene had the hospital PA bellowing "Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard."

'Trapper John, MD' and 'St Elsewhere' also used that classic line.

 

[onairb]

While not mentioned specifically by name, "The Bob Newhart Show"
was a source of jokes on subsequent shows. On an episode of "St.
Elsewhere" Jack Riley (Elliot Carlin) plays a character who blames his
insanity on "some quack in Chicago," and repeats the bit on an episode
of "Newhart." In the latter, Dick, who goes to a marriage counselor, thinks
Riley's character looks familiar, resulting in an insult from Riley. The counselor
apologizes, saying that she's trying to undo the damage caused by "a quack
in Chicago." (On "St. Elsewhere," Oliver Clark, who had played Mr. Herd on
"The Bob Newhart Show," is referred to as John Doe Number Six--a reference
to "The Prisoner," perhaps?)

On "The Bob Newhart 19th Anniversary Show," the cast is trying to figure out
Bob's famous dream when Howard (Bill Daily) says. "I had a dream like that once.
I dreamed I was an astronaut in Florida for five years." (Daily, of course, played
Roger Healy on "I Dream Of Jeannie.") And on "Saturday Night Live" Bob and Suzanne
Pleshette replayed the dream; this time Bob wakes up and says he dreamed he was
on "Saturday Night Live." Suzanne: "That's not still on, is it?"

And once, on "Murphy Brown," Bob tries to get Carol (Marcia Wallace) to give up her
job as Murphy's secretary and come back to work for him.

Another reference to The Bob Newhart Show' on Newhart featured Michael (Peter Scolari) laughing as he asked Dick, 'Remember that GREAT show about the psychologist who stuttered?', and Dick corrects him...'S-st--STAMMERED!'

 

[bpatrick]

In the last season of Sanford & Son, Fred, Lamont, Donna and Bubba appear on The Gong Show.

Fred and Lamont were also in the audience of "The Tonight Show." Maybe in that same episode.

This might be a stretch but on "The Flintstones," Samantha and Darren from "Bewitched" once moved next door to Fred and Wilma. There was also the time when either Fred was in the hospital where Drs. Casey and Zorba were on staff. (It could have been they were watching "Ben Casey" on TV.) Who can forget the time that the Beau Brummelstones were on "Shinrock" with Jimmy O'Nealstone. It was broadcast over ABC, The Abba Dabba Broadcasting Company.

There was also the episode of "Happy Days" where Richie was backstage at the "Howdy Doody Show" and snapped a picture of Clarabell without his makeup.

"Happy Days" also did a thinly-disguised version of "You Asked For It" called "You Wanted To See It," where Fonz tries to set a record for jumping over barrels with his motorcycle. They even had Smilin' Jack Smith (host of the real thing) as host of the fictional show. And I think the Ben Casey-type doctor on "The Flintstones" was referred to as "Dr. Ben Cavity."

And of course, on "The Honeymooners," there's Norton's mention of the three times a man wants to be alone; the third one is when he's in the isolation booth on "The $64,000 Question." There are also a couple other references to "Question" (not including the parody "The $99,000 Answer"); one is when Norton says he could answer the $64,000 question on Ralph, the other is when Ralph, referring to his mother-in-law, says he could answer the $64,000 question on aggravation.

Also, there's the "Beat The Clock" episode of "The Honeymooners" (originally airing on Gleason's variety show and not one of the Classic 39), which even included Bud Collyer. ("Beat The Clock" and Gleason's show aired back-to-back, both live, on CBS Saturday nights at the time, so it wasn't much of a problem for Collyer to get to Gleason's studio.)