In the first Thanksgiving episode of The Simpsons, Homer says the lead balloon in the Macy’s parade will probably be another “flash-in-the-pan cartoon character” just as a huge balloon of Bart floats by on the TV in the background.
Good catch!
The TV movie The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. has an appearance of George Lazenby as “J.B.,” implying U.N.C.L.E. is in the same universe as James Bond.
Toward the end of his life, Peter Falk appeared in a made-for-TV movie (I think it was) as a very Columbo-like cop or investigator (I don’t think his name was ever given). He also appeared in-character on at least one other occasion, a Dean Martin roast.
I honestly don’t recall any “real life” crossovers between the Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction, and I thought I’d seen them all.
it would’ve seemed weird to me, because Bea Benaderet was in both series, playing different characters – she was Cousin Pearl in Beverly Hillbillies, but Kate Bradley, owner of the Shady Rest Hotel in petticoat Junction, and it wouldn’t do to have them meet.
You want twisted, bringing *Green Acres * into it? Paul Henning, who created all three series, based the TV Green Acres on his 1950s radio show Granby’s Green acres, which starred Bea Benaderet as Martha Granby, the Eva Gabor part.
Even more twisted – John Granby, her husband, was played by Gale Gordon. When Lucille Ball was casting I Love Lucy, Benaderet was her first choice for Ethel Mertz and Gale Gordon her first choice for Fred.
Wings of Desire (later re-made [sort of] as City of Angels) is a movie about angels who become human. Peter Falk plays an angel who became human, went to Hollywood, and became the star of Columbo. 
It is a whole Alan Brady episode.
Somehow the Bradleys and the Clampetts were related. In the episode that set up the first crossover (there was more than one), Granny gave a very convoluted genealogy of the whole clan that was impossible to follow.
The “Bowling Pin” sketch they keep referring to on ***MaY ***is the one Richie suggested to Rob on Dick van Dyke the week he had his writer’s block.
Turned out he’d seen it on another show, and Alan Brady was charged with copyright violation.
Mary was a sitcom/variety show with Mary Tyler Moore playing herself as a performer on a variety show. It allowed for a behind-the-scenes story featuring Mary’s life both backstage and at home.
In one show, Dick Van Dyke was the guest star of the fictional show. The writers realized that Mary looked a lot like the woman who played Laura, so wrote several skits on that basis.
But the topper at the end was when Mary – who kept being held up on her way to the studio – finally met Van Dyke. She told him that she had been up for a role in The Dick Van Dyke Show – but Rose Marie got the part instead.
Oops – got the name of the show wrong. It was The Mary Tyler Moore Hour.
Don’t forget Murphy Brown, where secretary #66 turned out to be Carol from the Bob Newhart Show, who quit after Dr. Bob Hartley showed up and begged her to come back to Chicago.
In the canon of Green Acres, the smartest resident in the valley is a pig. I wouldn’t worry too much about what in the series is “real” and what isn’t.
What number was Cosmo Kramer? :dubious: 
Seriously, I didn’t know this was a thing on MB. Living abroad for most of the '90s, I got to see very few episodes.
Hey, can *you *grunt in seven languages? :dubious:
I had to look this up. Actually, it was Candace Bergen who turned up onSeinfeld when Jerry and Elaine watch an episode of Murphy Brown where Kramer turns up as her secretary “Steven Snell.”
Don’t know if this quite makes the category, but on The Big Bang Theory, on the whiteboard where Sheldon was listing Halloween costume “Couples You (Amy) Like”, one of the pairs listed was Blossom and Joey.
Dick Van Dyke has made a few references to his famous ottoman trip over the years. One time on Diagnosis Murder, he’s checking out a crime scene and says “I almost tripped over that ottoman”. Lately on The Middle, Jerry Van Dyke has a great line where before Dick enters he says “He’ll probably trip over that ottoman”.
Boston Public crossed over with Boston Legal (characters from BP showed up in a case in BL) - but in a different episode of Boston Legal, a witness testified that he was watching Boston Public when a certain incident occurred.
In one early episode, before AFF was introduced, Raj made a reference to “the girl who played Blossom.” I think it was the one with the annual Physics Bowl.
The same episode also mentions “The girl from The Wonder Years.” That would be Danica McKellar, who also appeared in a later episode, as a one-and-done love interest for Raj.