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Real TV shows mentioned within a fictional context

The references to the Honeymooners reminded me that in several episodes Ed Norton talked about "Captain Video." In one, he even watches the show wearing a Captain Video helmet.

Not only was Captain Video a real show (five nights a week on the Dumont Network, original home of the Jackie Gleason Show and where they filmed the "classic 39) but a space helmet was an actual premium offered by the show. I had one. It didn't look much like the one Ed Norton wore on the show. It cost several boxtops from Post cereals (the show's sponsor) and a dollar (which was very expensive for a premium back then). The helmet was even integrated into story lines: The bad guy turns off the air in the Captain's ship. He can't breathe. He staggers into the next cabin saying, "If only I can get to my space helmet in time." Fade to black. Commercial for helmet. Tune in tomorrow.

The show was done live (so few kinescopes exist) from an unused floor of Wanamaker's Department Store in Greenwich Village (which burned down in 1955). When the show needed props they'd borrow stuff from the store. Al Hodge played the Captain (he'd earlier been the Green Hornet on radio). It was one of several space operas on early TV. They were all gone by the mid 50s and we had to wait more than 10 years for Gene Roddenberry to give us another one. We never saw it mentioned but I bet Ed Norton would have been a Trekker.
 
Wait, There's More

Last night on Hawaii Five-0, McGarrett 2.0, Danno 2.0, Max and Kamekona talked about how much they loved Magnum PI (and sang the theme).

Magnum PI was set in the same universe as the original Hawaii Five-O and made references to the original McGarrett as a real person, not a TV character.
 
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.)
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That "lost" episode might have my personal favorite line of all the "lost" episodes....

The Kramdens had a chance to practice for 1 week, the stunt they needed to complete. It involved many balloons, which Ralph kept in that large sink. Norton, there to "help," was smoking and threw his cigarette (not put out) in the sink, popping a balloon or two.

Ralph: What kind of mind must one have, to throw a cigarette in a sink full of balloons?
Norton: What kind of mind must one have to have a sink full of balloons?!?! :)

(not that I condone smoking.)

cd
 
Speaking of the "lost episodes" ....

About the time Jackie Gleason "found" them, Penthouse magazine published the "lesbian" photos of Miss America. Howard Stern did a bit called "The Lost Alice and Trixie Lesbian Episode" of the Honeymooners.

Some highlights...
Ralph discovers Alice and Trixie "together."

RALPH: To the moon, Alice.
ALICE: Sorry, Ralph. Trixie sent me there already.

Finally, Alice admits she an Trixie were only pretending to take photos to sell to Penthouse, so Alice could buy Ralph and new bowling ball for his birthday.
RALPH: Baby, you're the greatest.
MUSIC UP.
 
anotherguy said:
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.
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I'm not saying this did not happen, but if it did, it would have been a break in continutity of the show, since the Korean Conflict started in 1950 and "I Love Lucy" didn't air until 1951, hardly any of the people would have an ideal who or what "I Love Lucy" was. So if Radar was in Korea since the start of the conflict, when Dr. Freedman mentioned "I Love Lucy", wouldn't Radar have responded back with "WHat?"
 
On "Friends," Ross and Monica get in a taping of the studio dance sequences for Dick Clark's "New Year's Rockin' Eve," and Joey is a star on "Days of Our Lives" and a celebrity player on the game show "Pyramid."
 
jwk1979 said:
anotherguy said:
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.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying this did not happen, but if it did, it would have been a break in continutity of the show, since the Korean Conflict started in 1950 and "I Love Lucy" didn't air until 1951, hardly any of the people would have an ideal who or what "I Love Lucy" was. So if Radar was in Korea since the start of the conflict, when Dr. Freedman mentioned "I Love Lucy", wouldn't Radar have responded back with "WHat?"
Click to expand...

Radar also did an imitation of John Wayne in which he said something like, "You better watch it, Pilgrim." John Wayne didn't call anyone "pilgrim" in a movie before 1962 ("The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance").

We know Radar had been in the Korea since the movie MASH.
 
Freaks and Geeks (set in the early '80s) had several of these. Best example was when Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr) was watching Dallas and blurted out, "don't do it, J.R., it's a trap!" Also there was once when one character asked another, "did anyone watch Dukes of Hazzard last night?" which was a continuity error, since they were at school at the time, and Dukes aired on Friday nights. There was also a mention of Fantasy Island, and I believe, in one episode, they were watching either SCTV or Saturday Night Live.

Diff'rent Strokes had a couple of these. Arnold said "I thought the Incredible Hulk was green!" (Interesting, since the Hulk was on opposite Strokes for at least parts of their respective runs.) And then there was this one:

ARNOLD: "Heeeeerrrre's Johnny!"
WILLIS: "But you'rrrrrrrre not watching!"
 
bpatrick said:
"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."
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So Fonzie jumped sharks AND barrels! ;D

I also recall the quiz show scandal episode in which Richie was a game-show contestant (don't remember the show) and was given the answer to a question ahead of time, but refused to give it out when asked.
 
cd637299 said:
I goofed....Mama from "Mama's Family" was on Jeopardy.
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The cast of Mama's Family was indeed on the Feud. I remember Naomi leaning WAY over to get a kiss from Richard Dawson, who was "Richie Kissie" in that episode. (This casting was especially ironic when considering that Vicki Lawrence later became the "Richard Dawson" (the go-to person to call on, among the "regulars," anyway) in the 1998 version of Match Game.)

Apparently, syndicated shows were a bit easier to mention during network shows. In Growing Pains, there was a reference to Mike watching Solid Gold just to see the dancers. ;D
 
flintstones

There were hundreds of parodies and illusions in The Flintstones over its six-year run. I listed dozens of them at The Flintstones episode guide at tv.com seven or eight years ago.
The most surreal episode of The Flintstones was "Sheriff for a Day." The two couples visit a Western town and Fred is named sheriff. The families don't realize they've been had. The men who robbed the town's bank years ago have been released from prison and are on their way to get even with the sheriff (doesn't matter who the sheriff is!).
Fred and Barney walk down the main street with their guns at their hips, facing the Slatery brothers. Wilma and Betty hope for someone to come rescue them, so the Cartrocks show up and capture the Slaterys. Wilma and Betty tell the Cartrocks that they love watching them on TV. Ben Cartrock says they were watching The Flintstones on TV and decided Fred and Barney needed to be rescued.
Figure that one out!
I hated this episode as a little girl. As an adult I think it is hilarious. You will find different references on the Internet saying "Sheriff for a Day" is the only episode without a laugh track. That may be true now, but I suspect that over the years in syndication, it was probably just erased on the master tape. It probably was there when the episode aired originally.
To add to the surrealism, the sky in this episode is really weird shades of orange and red.
 
firepoint525 said:
Freaks and Geeks (set in the early '80s) had several of these. Best example was when Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr) was watching Dallas and blurted out, "don't do it, J.R., it's a trap!" Also there was once when one character asked another, "did anyone watch Dukes of Hazzard last night?" which was a continuity error, since they were at school at the time, and Dukes aired on Friday nights. There was also a mention of Fantasy Island, and I believe, in one episode, they were watching either SCTV or Saturday Night Live.

Diff'rent Strokes had a couple of these. Arnold said "I thought the Incredible Hulk was green!" (Interesting, since the Hulk was on opposite Strokes for at least parts of their respective runs.) And then there was this one:

ARNOLD: "Heeeeerrrre's Johnny!"
WILLIS: "But you'rrrrrrrre not watching!"
Click to expand...

One from a movie, "Anger Management": Adam Sandler's character, as a kid in 1978, is shown wearing a "Dukes Of Hazzard" T-shirt. Couldn't be, since "Dukes" didn't debut until January 1979.

And in answer to the question about the game show on which Richie Cunningham was given an answer, the show was called "Big Money" and he was given the answer to the $5000 question on baseball. Something similar happened in real life, on "Twenty-One," when Herb Stempel was told to answer "On The Waterfront" instead of "Marty" as the Best Picture of 1955. He knew the answer (he'd seen "Marty" three times) but since Dan Enright had promised him a job (which never materialized) he played along, gave the wrong answer, and opened the door for Charles Van Doren. (BTW, the "Marty" question was not the one that eliminated Stempel; he and Van Doren played to a tie, necessitating another game, and Stempel deliberately missed part of a question about the editorial "What's The Matter With Kansas?". Van Doren then stopped the game and won $20,000.)
 
^ I couldn't remember the name of that fake game show on "Happy Days," so thank you. The MC was Dave "Reuben Kincaid" Madden. He was so sure that Richie would take the bait.....when honest Richie said "I don't know" to the big question (where he was supplied the answer), Madden said something like "You're absolutely----huh?"

About "Twenty-One," I think I read that the producers purposely left off the air conditioning in Herb's booth (maybe both booths), so they can really wipe their sweat to add to the tension.

Jack Barry, escaping the worst of the crimes, but more-or-less being blackballed, owned WGMA in Hollywood, FL in the early 60s. He did develop a game show, only shown locally in Miami, called "Hole in One" on channel 10 (not current ownership), which ran in the spring of '62. I am sure that being able to procure any video of this would be impossible, but I'd sure love to see any promo photos of this show. There is one grainy photo via the Miami News Archives. The main prop was a putting arcade golf machine, which is difficult to view in the photo. Oh well.

cd
 
In an episode of Superman: The Animated Series, Lana comes over to see Young Clark. Martha Kent pulls Jonathan out of the room saying, "I think the Dukes of Hazard is on."

There is also an episode in which we see Al Roker doing a TV weather forecast (with Al Roker providing his own voice).
 
bpatrick said:
One from a movie, "Anger Management": Adam Sandler's character, as a kid in 1978, is shown wearing a "Dukes Of Hazzard" T-shirt. Couldn't be, since "Dukes" didn't debut until January 1979.
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Another one. On That '80s Show, which I admittedly never watched, so I cannot really comment on this, but supposedly a character on there wore a Miami Vice-style jacket, and the show was supposedly set earlier in the '80s than before Vice debuted.

On Do Over (anyone besides me remember that one?), it was supposedly 1980, and the kid's alarm clock awoke him with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," a clever use of the song, but its release was still four years away!

What about references to past TV shows? The ALF episode that referenced Gilligan's Island was funny, but since most (if not all) of the Gilligan's Island cast appeared on that episode, it might have been considered more of a "crossover" episode. Can you have "crossover" episodes with defunct shows? This was one of the last ever cast reunions of Gilligan cast members, save for another appearance on the Late Show, then still hosted by Joan Rivers.
 
The Simpsons had a episode where Bart went to watch a TV show in Japan (Thirty Minutes over Tokyo) to see the show that causes seizures. On screen was a giant robot show, but it was a clear reference to Pokemon (Electric Solider Porygon).
 
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