# Best Cameo in a Television Series **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874 "2009-11-17T03:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/1 "2009-11-17T03:08:56Z")
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”. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/2 "2009-11-17T03:11:28Z")
Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/3 "2009-11-17T03:45:25Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart > > 🙂 Seconded. This is actually what I came in here to post. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/4 "2009-11-17T03:49:13Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/5 "2009-11-17T03:49:22Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart > > 🙂 > [@jayjay](#): > > Seconded. This is actually what I came in here to post. Thirded. Thread over. ETA : OK fourth. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/6 "2009-11-17T03:53:37Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Suzanne Pleshette in the finale of Newhart > > 🙂 Fifthed. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/7 "2009-11-17T04:21:13Z")
Sixthed ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/8 "2009-11-17T04:26:52Z")
_Not counting that frakkin’ Newhart episode_, what would you say was the best cameo in a television series? ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/9 "2009-11-17T04:44:48Z")
James Cameron in Entourage? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/10 "2009-11-17T04:56:01Z")
I liked William Shatner in [Police Squad](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBEO64uxQ2Q) (about 34 seconds in). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/11 "2009-11-17T05:06:51Z")
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_. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/12 "2009-11-17T05:14:07Z")
An episode of \*Caroline In The City \*with a cameo by Niles Crane and Daphne. ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/13 "2009-11-17T05:19:45Z")
I see I am not alone in Team Pleshette. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/14 "2009-11-17T05:24:59Z")
Walter Cronkite in The Mary Tyler Moore Show ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/15 "2009-11-17T05:26:11Z")
Billy Gibbons in Bones? I think he was in 2 episodes, although they were very short. Hope that doesn’t discount it. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/16 "2009-11-17T05:30:13Z")
Totally on Team Pleshette. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/17 "2009-11-17T06:24:32Z")
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_ ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/18 "2009-11-17T06:25:42Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/19 "2009-11-17T06:30:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874/20 "2009-11-17T06:34:23Z")
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 Kevin Bacon! Wish I could watch that episode without knowledge beforehand. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cameo-in-a-television-series/517874.md?page=2)