# Inside Jokes on TV Shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498 "2013-02-16T14:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/21 "2013-02-16T19:13:00Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > **June** Lockhart played Billy Mumy’s mother in Lost in Space. Par’n my brain fart… ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/22 "2013-02-16T19:22:52Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Anti: When Maureen Lockhart guest-starred on _B5_, they completely avoided having her encounter Bill Mumy’s character. Do you mean JUNE Lockhart? IMDB never heard of Maureen and the relation between June and Billy is known. eta: and WTF is B5? Are you texting this? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/23 "2013-02-16T19:33:04Z")
B5= Babylon 5 ---
**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:** [February 16, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/24 "2013-02-16T20:07:31Z")
I remember an episode of Growing Pains where the parents kept missing each other because they kept moving to different rooms looking for each other, and they’d ask the kids in the living room if they’d seen the other. When the dad (Alan Thicke) asked them if they’d seen the mom (Joanna Kerns), they replied with “Blonde? Tall? Looks like Donna Devarona?” Joanna Kerns is Olympic swimmer Donna Devarona’s sister. And when the mom asked them about the dad, they replied with “Tall? Dark? Looks like a Canadian talkshow host?” Alan Thicke had, previous to Growing Pains, been the host of his own latenight talk show, Thicke of the Night. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/25 "2013-02-16T20:12:23Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > Do you mean JUNE Lockhart? IMDB never heard of Maureen and the relation between June and Billy is known. > > eta: and WTF is B5? Are you texting this? Brain fart on name acknowledged before your post. B5 = Babylon 5 = the last of the Babylon stations is hardly a cryptic reference in this context. Sorry it went by you. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/26 "2013-02-16T20:20:51Z")
Back when it was announced there would be a reboot of the _Spider-man_ movie franchise–and before Andrew Garfield got the job–there was a minor clamor on the internet calling for _Community’s_ Donald Glover to play the webslinger. He had a lot of support, but there were also a lot of Spidey fans opposed to the idea of a black Peter Parker. Anyhow, nothing came of it. But during the opening of one of the episodes of Community, there is a montage showing each of the characters getting out of bed in the morning. Glover is wearing Spider-man pajamas. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/27 "2013-02-16T20:49:48Z")
I remember catching a bit of an episode of _House_ where there was an '80s costume party and House showed up in a powdered wig because they hadn’t specified which '80s. Would have been a perfect opportunity to play a little _Walking on Broken Glass_ in the background. There was another episode where he’s browsing through the shows on his DVR and one of them is _Blackadder_. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > When Dan Castellaneta guested on Veronia Mars, he muttered a “D’oh!” when he walked away from a team of students who had given an incorrect answer. There was an episode of _L.A. Law_ with a lawsuit against a man who performed in a Homer Simpson costume at a theme park and enjoyed it so much that he felt he became the character. He was played by Dan Castellaneta, but he only did the voice once he had the full costume and head on, so you never really saw him doing it. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/28 "2013-02-16T20:51:36Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > “Blonde? Tall? Looks like Donna Devarona?” This reminded me of an exchange on _NCIS_: Someone, maybe Abby: I wonder what [Ducky](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0020063/) looked like when he was young. Gibbs: [Illya Kuryakin](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0028796/) ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/29 "2013-02-16T20:54:34Z")
My absolute favorite. In the 1980s _Buck Rogers_ there is an episode where Buck (played by Gil Gerard) has to get a bunch of aged pilots from a retirement home to help with a mission. They succeed and Buck tells their leader that he’s pretty good. “Son,” says the leader, “I’ve been doing this since before you were born.” “You think so?” smirks Buck. The leader nods. “I _know_ so.” Yeah, Buck was supposedly born 500 years before, but the leader of the retired pilots? Played by Buster Crabbe, the _original_ Buck Rogers. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/30 "2013-02-16T20:56:15Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There was an episode of _L.A. Law_ with a lawsuit against a man who performed in a Homer Simpson costume at a theme park… Wow, I was going to call BS and/or faulty memory until I looked… I didn’t realize _LA Law_ and _Simpsons_ overlapped by some four years. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/31 "2013-02-16T20:57:45Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Played by Buster Crabbe, the _original_ Buck Rogers. Remember that one fondly. Which leads to the obligatory mention of Adam West voicing the Gray Ghost in an animated \*Batman \*episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/32 "2013-02-16T21:00:29Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Abby: I wonder what [Ducky](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0020063/) looked like when he was young. > Gibbs: [Illya Kuryakin](http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0028796/) This was followed up with a computer-processed image of the young Ducky/Illya, complete with the black turtleneck IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/33 "2013-02-16T21:01:01Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > My absolute favorite. In the 1980s _Buck Rogers_ there is an episode where Buck (played by Gil Gerard) has to get a bunch of aged pilots from a retirement home to help with a mission. They succeed and Buck tells their leader that he’s pretty good. > > “Son,” says the leader, “I’ve been doing this since before you were born.” > > “You think so?” smirks Buck. > > The leader nods. “I _know_ so.” > > Yeah, Buck was supposedly born 500 years before, but the leader of the retired pilots? Played by Buster Crabbe, the _original_ Buck Rogers. Ha! I love this one the best. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/34 "2013-02-16T21:03:19Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > Wow, I was going to call BS and/or faulty memory until I looked… I didn’t realize _LA Law_ and _Simpsons_ overlapped by some four years. God, _if only_ I could forget the last four years of _LA Law_. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/35 "2013-02-16T21:10:02Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > God, _if only_ I could forget the last four years of _LA Law_. Hey, now…the bitch fell down the elevator shaft! That makes up for an awful lot of the rest of those four years… ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/36 "2013-02-16T21:16:25Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Hey, now…the bitch fell down the elevator shaft! That makes up for an awful lot of the rest of those four years… That’s like saying Porsche makes up for the Anschluss. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/37 "2013-02-16T21:18:27Z")
**Spin City** had Michael J Fox’s character visited by his mother, the same actress who played his mother in Family Ties. Laer in he season Fox’s characer is complining on the phone that he can’t have a replacement therapist because ‘he’s a father figure’. The replacement walks in and it’s the actor who played his father on Family ties, Fox hangs up the pone, sayong it’s not going to be a problem. \*\* The King’s Speech\*\*. Bertie is played by Colin Firth, at one point he is introduced (“I don’t think you’ve met…”) to a characer played by Jennifer Ehle. They played Darcey and Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC Pride and rejudice. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/38 "2013-02-16T21:29:49Z")
Does the series ending of _Newhart_ count? (Bob wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette and announces he’s had the weirdest dream…) …wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette… (Just had to say it again.) ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/39 "2013-02-16T21:32:42Z")
**Nitro** -That \*totally \*counts! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498/40 "2013-02-16T21:33:02Z")
> [@NitroPress](#): > > …wakes up next to Suzanne Pleshette… I’ve had that dream. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inside-jokes-on-tv-shows/650498.md?page=3)