Best Cameo in a Television Series

[Czarcasm]

Just cameos-no "all-episode" or "multi-episode" appearances, please.
Mine would be Patrick Duffy and Victoria Principal as Pam and Bobby Ewing(not animated) in the Family Guy episode "Da Boom".

[Mahaloth]

Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by Mahaloth

Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart

Seconded. This is actually what I came in here to post.

[Joey P]

Originally Posted by jayjay

Seconded. This is actually what I came in here to post.

Thirded, first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the title.

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by Mahaloth

Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart

Originally Posted by jayjay

Seconded. This is actually what I came in here to post.

Thirded.

Thread over.

ETA : OK fourth.

[BiblioCat]

Originally Posted by Mahaloth

Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart

Fifthed.

[dropzone]

Sixthed

[Czarcasm]

Not counting that frakkin' Newhart episode, what would you say was the best cameo in a television series?

[Isamu]

James Cameron in Entourage?

[Johnny L.A.]

I liked William Shatner in Police Squad (about 34 seconds in).

[Little Nemo]

Another vote for Suzanne Pleshette.

One that might have topped it would have been if The X-Files could have convinced Johnny Cash to play the "man in black" in the episode Jose Chung's Men in Black.

[Peter Morris]

An episode of Caroline In The City with a cameo by Niles Crane and Daphne.

[StoutHearted]

I see I am not alone in Team Pleshette.

[audit1]

Walter Cronkite in The Mary Tyler Moore Show

[SeanArenas]

Billy Gibbons in Bones? I think he was in 2 episodes, although they were very short. Hope that doesn't discount it.

[tumbleddown]

Totally on Team Pleshette.

[Sampiro]

I won't say best (because that was Suzanne Pleshette- I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it) but some of the most extremely unexpected:

Burt Reynolds on The Golden Girls was a major shocker. This was before he fell from Olympus and was still starring in dreadful movies rather than TV.

Bob Hope on Roseanne- he didn't say a word and was just in a little blip at the end- Roseanne had witnessed a robbery and said the driver looked kind of like Bob Hope, and at the end he was in a police lineup that was clearly filmed separately. What was most surprising was Hope's rep as a patriot and USO performer and yet he did the cameo a year after Roseanne's Star Spangled Banner fiasco.

Tom Hanks on an episode of Tea Leoni's show The Naked Truth- an unusually big star to do a walk on as himself and slapstick involving his zipper getting stuck. He did it as a favor for his pal Holland Taylor who was a regular on the show.

Thomas Pynchon on The Simpsons

Richard Nixon on Laugh In (I don't remember it but I've seen it many times)

Ethel Kennedy on Cheers

[Robot Arm]

John Cleese was brilliant on an episode of Cheers, but that may have been too big a role to count as a cameo.

There's another thread about recurring guest stars in long-running series, and someone suggests that they could get away with that in the days before syndication. No one would remember who played a small part that they'd only seen once three years previous. Putting Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart was the opposite; playing off the comfortable familiarity of Bob Newhart Show reruns to spring one of the best surprises in sitcom history. The crowning moment of a comedy genius.

[Sampiro]

Sean Penn 'coming out' in the Emma Thompson episode of Ellen was hysterical. (Emma Thompson was brilliant as well but too big to be a cameo.) What was particularly funny is that Penn isn't known for his sense of humor yet he was perfect comic timing.

[Koxinga]

I never saw it myself, but my wife says she saw an episode of Mad About You with a running gag or theme about "six degrees of separation" and who should show up in the final seconds of the episode but

SPOILER:

Kevin Bacon!

Wish I could watch that episode without knowledge beforehand.

[Sampiro]

I'm not a huge Streisand fan but she was great when she popped in on Coffee Talk on SNL.

I'm a bit of a 70s sitcom geek, but my favorite cameo was probably Frank "Yeassssssss?!?!?!?!" Nelson's cameo on an episode during the Murphy/Piscopo years. And Andy Griffith's cameo in the "Opie's Back" sketch.

[Kylede]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

I liked William Shatner in Police Squad (about 34 seconds in).

The opening credits of "Police Squad"always had the "special guest star" for that episode die in soome horrible fashion.

Someone also mention Ethel Kennedy on Cheers. The early seasons of it did all osrt of stunts like this...Tip O'neil was my favorite (he was the Speaker of the House at the time)

[MrDibble]

Jack stalking Kevin Bacon in Will & Grace
Isabella Rosellini not being on Ross´s list in Friends.

[parthenokinesis]

I nominate Shatner's appearance on 3rd Rock from the Sun. Just brilliant.

[Omniscient]

First off, for those of us too young to have any idea who Suzanne Pleschette is could someone explain it?

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

Another vote for Suzanne Pleshette.

One that might have topped it would have been if The X-Files could have convinced Johnny Cash to play the "man in black" in the episode Jose Chung's Men in Black.

Well, getting Alex Trebek and Jesse Ventura to play the MiBs was certainly one of the all time classic cameos.

My vote would be for Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld, though it treads closely to the full episode restriction.

[BobLibDem]

I have no idea who the actors were, but the Dick Van Dyke Show had an episode where Rob was convinced that his baby was switched at the hospital with another couple's baby. He makes some calls and finally gets another couple to bring their baby over for comparison. The doorbell rings, and they're black. The audience didn't know it was coming and roared for quite some time. Kind of bold for the era.

[TV time]

Originally Posted by Sampiro

...Richard Nixon on Laugh In (I don't remember it but I've seen it many times)

Ethel Kennedy on Cheers

Richard Nixon on Laugh In was my first thought (I am old enough to remember it), but Speaker of the House Tip O'Neal on Cheers was a big one too.

[Peter Morris]

Originally Posted by Omniscient

First off, for those of us too young to have any idea who Suzanne Pleschette is could someone explain it?

Bob Newhart starred in a show with Suzanne Pleschette as his wife.
The Bob Newhart Show from 1972 - 78

Years later Bob Newhart starred in an entirely different show, with Mary Frann as his wife.
Newhart from 1982-1990.

The later series finished with Newhart as his character from the earlier series waking up in bed with Suzanne Pleschette, and realizing that the entire later series was all a dream.

[Omniscient]

Originally Posted by Peter Morris

Bob Newhart starred in a show with Suzanne Pleschette as his wife.
The Bob Newhart Show from 1972 - 78

Years later Bob Newhart starred in an entirely different show, with Mary Frann as his wife.
Newhart from 1982-1990.

The later series finished with Newhart as his character from the earlier series waking up in bed with Suzanne Pleschette, and realizing that the entire later series was all a dream.

Having heard about the finale before I sorta guessed that this was the case. Thanks.

[BiblioCat]

Keeping up with the Bob Newhart theme, I'll say the episode of Murphy Brown where she finally gets a competent secretary, played by Carol Wallace, who used to play a secretary on Newhart's original show.
At the end, Newhart himself shows up, as Bob Hartley, and begs her to come back and work for him.

[RealityChuck]

Larry, Darrell, and Darrell on the Bob Newhart Show reunion special, which left off the day after the Newhart finale, with Bob going into his office complaining that he had the weirdest dream the night before about owning an inn.

Daniel J. Travanti -- then a success in Hill Street Blues -- did a cameo in Newhart, where the entire episode was about Travanti staying at the inn. But the plot was that he was delayed; he only showed up in the last minute of the show, when everyone had gotten tired of waiting for him.

Alan Moore on the Simpsons.

[Sigmagirl]

Originally Posted by BobLibDem

I have no idea who the actors were, but the Dick Van Dyke Show had an episode where Rob was convinced that his baby was switched at the hospital with another couple's baby. He makes some calls and finally gets another couple to bring their baby over for comparison. The doorbell rings, and they're black. The audience didn't know it was coming and roared for quite some time. Kind of bold for the era.

It was Greg Morris, wasn't it?

[BiblioCat]

Originally Posted by Sigmagirl

It was Greg Morris, wasn't it?

Yes, it was.

[Annie-Xmas]

Originally Posted by Sigmagirl

It was Greg Morris, wasn't it?

Dick had only talked to the other father on the phone.

Dick: Why didn't you tell me?
Greg: And miss seeing the expression on your face?

Sammy Davis Jr. on All in the Family.

Brad Pitt on Friends.

[ColonelDax]

Mel Torme, Night Court.

Originally Posted by Sampiro

(Emma Thompson was brilliant as well but too big to be a cameo.)

Along the same lines, my absolute favorite episode of Cheers is the one in which Emma Thompson guest-stars as a kids' singer and former girlfriend of Frasier, but again, too much to qualify as a cameo.

[Annie-Xmas]

Laurie Metcalf, both on 3rd Rock from the Sun, and Fraiser.

[Keweenaw]

Harrison Ford in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

[WreckingCrew]

There was an episode of Coach where Luther (Jerry Van Dyke) goes to a family reunion and makes some comment like "I don't know anyone here." At which point, Dick Van Dyke, who was sitting with his back to the camera, gets up and walks wordlessly off the set.

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by ColonelDax

Mel Torme, Night Court.



Along the same lines, my absolute favorite episode of Cheers is the one in which Emma Thompson guest-stars as a kids' singer and former girlfriend of Frasier, but again, too much to qualify as a cameo.

He appeared in eight or nine episodes, would that still be a cameo? Plus he was central to the plot in most of those not just a surprise appearance.

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

In "Get Smart" ep Die, Spy, Smart is teamed with Stu Gilliam. Robert Culp ("I Spy") appears uncredited as a waiter.

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by Sigmagirl

It was Greg Morris, wasn't it?

Hardly a cameo; The Dick Van Dyke Show was off the air by the time Mission: Impossible premiered. They just cast an actor for the role, not because he was recognizable. Also, Morris did appear in another Dick Van Dyck Show as "Sticks" Mandalay.

In any case, The Dick Van Dyck Show was fairly advanced in race relations for its day.

[RealityChuck]

Originally Posted by Earl Snake-Hips Tucker

In "Get Smart" ep Die, Spy, Smart is teamed with Stu Gilliam. Robert Culp ("I Spy") appears uncredited as a waiter.

Johnny Carson had a cameo on an earlier Get Smart as a train conductor.

[CalMeacham]

Danny Thomas on The Dick Van Dyke Show.


Thomas was the executive producer for the series. I suspect he'd wanted to do a cameo for a long time, but didn't want it to be obvious. Rob Petrie (Dick van Dyke) was head writer for the fictional Allan Brady Show, which would have been the obvious way to get Thomas on the show. I suspect no one wanted to do anything so straightforward (In fact, I can't recall any "real life" stars who had cameos as guests on The Allen Brady Show, though I could be wrong).

They did it as dream episode. But they don't simply dream that Danny Thomas shows up -- they dream of an "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-type scenario where the alien invader, Kolak, looks exactly like Danny Thomas -- only with an English Accent*.

One of the best shows ever, featuring a closet full of walnuts



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0559769/







*Your "Mary Poppins" joke goes here.

[Morbo]

Richard Belzer in character as Detective Munch sitting at the bar in a late episode of The Wire.

Jon Voight's 24 second cameo appearance on Seinfeld

Wade Boggs on Cheers.

[CandidGamera]

Originally Posted by Morbo

Richard Belzer in character as Detective Munch sitting at the bar in a late episode of The Wire.

I like my cameos a little more out of left field - like Richard Belzer as Detective Munch on Arrested Development.

[Thudlow Boink]

I'm not claiming it's the best, but one of the weirdest may be Dan Castellaneta's cameo on L. A. Law, as Homer Simpson (sort of).

[Casey1505]

Alex Trebeck on Cheers. Birth of "Who are three people who have never been in my kitchen?"

[Poysyn]

Bruce Willis in Mad About You...?

[WOOKINPANUB]

Will & Grace always had the best guest appearances, although most of them were too long to be considered cameos. How about when Elton John appeared as the head of the gay mafia. "We'll be watching you. One wrong move and this bitch will be back!"

Cher had kind of a funny scene with Jack where he thought she was actually a female impersonator and he was instructing "him" on how to do a better Cher
"If I could turn back ti i i i i i me".

[Headrush042]

I have a terrible TV show memory, and so can only remember things I've seen relatively recently. The one that sticks in my mind is Carrie Fisher on 30 Rock:

SPOILER:

Help me, Liz Lemon; you're my only hope!

Come to think of it, 30 Rock has a lot of great guest appearances.