# Oddest/ most interesting connection to a role featured on a different show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949 "2014-11-07T03:50:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/1 "2014-11-07T03:50:33Z")
I nominate 30 For 30’s Boston College Point Shaving show, featuring Henry Hill narrated by Ray Liotta. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/2 "2014-11-07T14:03:55Z")
I really liked the episode of My Name is Earl where the coach from the movie Rudy was the Manager of the appliance store, and all they employees walked in with their credit cards and layed them down to help another worker make his quota or something like the scene in Rudy. Bonus was Sean Astin was in the episode as well. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/3 "2014-11-07T14:25:40Z")
Bob Newhart and Judd Hirsh’s series **George and Leo** had a special episode that included, as guest stars, many of their co-stars from _Taxi_ and the various _Newhart_ shows, playing characters much like their original ones. Of course, you have to mention the final episode of \*\* Newhart\*\* with Suzanne Pleshette. And the **Third Rock from the Sun** episode where Lithgow/'s character says to Shatner “The Same thing happened to ME!” And the recurring roles of Kelset Grammer and David Hyde-Pierce as Sideshow Bob and his brother on _The Simpsons_. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/4 "2014-11-07T15:39:50Z")
The villain Discord in _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ was [intentionally](http://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/2014/04/07/eccc-john-de-lancie-talks-star-trek-my-little-pony-and-brony-phenomenon/) based on Star Trek’s Q, and even voiced by the actor that performed Q. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/5 "2014-11-07T15:44:35Z")
In the short-lived variety sitcom, **Mary** , Mary Tyler Moore played a variety show star who was having Dick Van Dyke as a guest star. One of the the writers pointed out that Mary looked a lot like the actress who played Laura, so they wrote some **Dick Van Dyke Show** sketches for the two of them. At the end, Dick finally shows up at the studio. Mary tells him the she was up for a role in **Dick Van Dyke** , but in the end, Rose Marie got the part. There was also a **Bob Newhart Show** reunion (after **Newhart** finished) where, Bob Hartley kept talking about this very strange dream he just had the night before. The kicker is that at the end, Larry, Darryl, and Darryl show up in the elevator. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/6 "2014-11-07T16:18:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > There was also a **Bob Newhart Show** reunion (after **Newhart** finished) where, Bob Hartley kept talking about this very strange dream he just had the night before. The kicker is that at the end, Larry, Darryl, and Darryl show up in the elevator. And likewise, there was an episode of **Newhart** where Dick and Joanna go to see a marriage counselor. The patient who has the appointment right before them is Jack Riley, aka “Mr. Carlin” from **The Bob Newhart Show**. After he leaves, the therapist apologies for his sour attitude. She explains that she’s spent years working with him, trying to undo the damage done by “some quack in Chicago.” ---
**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 7, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/7 "2014-11-07T16:29:49Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > And likewise, there was an episode of **Newhart** where Dick and Joanna go to see a marriage counselor. The patient who has the appointment right before them is Jack Riley, aka “Mr. Carlin” from **The Bob Newhart Show**. After he leaves, the therapist apologies for his sour attitude. She explains that she’s spent years working with him, trying to undo the damage done by “some quack in Chicago.” No guest star involved, but there was one episode of _Newhart_ where Dick (Bob Newhart) and Michael (Peter Scolari) were discussing old TV shows. Michael mentioned “the one about that psychiatrist who stuttered.” Dick replied “he, um, he, he stammered.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/8 "2014-11-07T16:38:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And the **Third Rock from the Sun** episode where Lithgow/'s character says to Shatner “The Same thing happened to ME!” I liked Jane Curtin’s disdainful “Pfftt… as if anyone cares about _that_” towards the TV when it announced that next on Biography was the Susan St. James story. (Reference to the two actresses’ show _Kate & Allie_) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/9 "2014-11-07T16:44:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > And the recurring roles of Kelsey Grammer and David Hyde-Pierce as Sideshow Bob and his brother on _The Simpsons_. Which they lampshaded by titling the first such episode “Brother From Another Series.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/10 "2014-11-07T16:47:52Z")
I don’t know if it’s quite what the OP is getting at, but on the general topic[Belzer as Munch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Munch)should get some mention. NCIS has made at least one reference to David McCallum’s role as Illya Kuryakin on TMFU. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/11 "2014-11-07T17:43:55Z")
Not sure if this counts, but the X-Files had a creepy episode where the name of the small town Sheriff was Andy Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/12 "2014-11-07T17:55:18Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I liked Jane Curtin’s disdainful “Pfftt… as if anyone cares about _that_” towards the TV when it announced that next on Biography was the Susan St. James story. She also expressed confusion at a sci-fi conventioneer dressed as a Conehead on _Third Rock From the Sun_. Speaking of- In William Shatner’s first guest appearance on Third Rock his character (the Big Giant Head) was being met at the airport by the Solomons. He was rattled because he’d seen a creature on the wing of the plane, which made Dick Solomon say “You too!?”. Both Shatner and Lithgow had appeared as the man who sees the creature on an airplane wing in TV and movie versions of _Twilight Zone_. Actor and acting teacher Al Freeman played Malcolm X to James Earl Jones’ Alex Haley on the miniseries _Roots: The Next Generation_. James Earl Jones had previously played Malcolm X (who even when he was young and much thinner he didn’t bear the slightest resemblance to physically or vocally) in a movie bio of Muhammad Ali, and Freeman later played Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm’s mentor turned archenemy, in Spike Lee’s _Malcolm X_. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/13 "2014-11-07T17:56:30Z")
Bill Murry sound-alike voice actor Lorenzo Music voiced Peter Venkman on the Ghostbusters animated TV show, a role played by actual Bill Murry in the movie. Lorenzo would later go on to voice Garfield the cat on the Garfield animated show, a role voiced by Bill Murry in the later Garfield movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/14 "2014-11-07T18:04:22Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > She also expressed confusion at a sci-fi conventioneer dressed as a Conehead on _Third Rock From the Sun_. > > Speaking of- > > In William Shatner’s first guest appearance on Third Rock his character (the Big Giant Head) was being met at the airport by the Solomons. He was rattled because he’d seen a creature on the wing of the plane, which made Dick Solomon say “You too!?”. Both Shatner and Lithgow had appeared as the man who sees the creature on an airplane wing in TV and movie versions of _Twilight Zone_. This is what happens when you don’t read the thread\*. Already posted in #3 above. - I know. I’ve done it often enough. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/15 "2014-11-07T19:13:21Z")
Not sure if this counts, but ISTR a comment on NCIS about something was about as likely as DiNozzo sleeping with Jessica Alba. (Michael Weatherly dated her back in the “Dark Angel” days) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/16 "2014-11-07T19:36:01Z")
Jack Riley/Mr. Carlin had another great appearance: at some point he not ended up in the psych ward at St. Eligius in Boston (aka _St. Elsewhere_) but convinced another male patient that he [the other patient] was Mary Richards from _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_. Betty White had a recurring role as a naval medical officer and was on that episode; when the patient saw her he mistook her for Sue Ann Nivens (her character on _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_). Jack Dodson, who played Howard Sprague on _The Andy Griffith Show_, played one of the hospital’s administrators. In one episode he had to undergo emergency surgery and while under anesthetic referred to Andy and getting a haircut from Floyd (though I don’t think Howard and Floyd were ever on the show together- could be wrong). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/17 "2014-11-07T19:50:18Z")
There’s another Kelsey Grammer crossover in the Simpsons – in the “Couch Gag” where the Simpsons go through the various sets for situation comedies through the years, when they’re on the “Cheers” set, Sideshow Bob comes down the stairs and into the bar. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/18 "2014-11-07T20:35:33Z")
Nathan Fillion in Castle dressing as a space cowboy for Halloween. His daughter tells him to [move on](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3pdj9p6yI). Obvious hint of Firefly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/19 "2014-11-07T20:49:28Z")
In the spirit of the OP. **Moonshot** was a miniseries about the Apollo program. It was based on a book by astronaut Alan Shepard (and Deke Slayton), but the series was narrated by Barry Corbin, who played fictional retired astronaut Maurice Minnifield on the TV show **Northern Exposure**. (Corbin also read the audiobook version of **Moonshot** ) Another odd crossover was on the TV series **Buck Rogers** , where Clarence Linden “Buster” Crabbe, who had played both Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon in the 1930s in serials\*, played “Commander Gordon” in a one-shot appearance. \*not to mention Tarzan. Crabbe was the all-around go-to hero. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949/20 "2014-11-07T21:03:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Of course, you have to mention the final episode of \*\* Newhart\*\* with Suzanne Pleshette. And the **Third Rock from the Sun** episode where Lithgow/'s character says to Shatner “The Same thing happened to ME!” And the recurring roles of Kelset Grammer and David Hyde-Pierce as Sideshow Bob and his brother on _The Simpsons_. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > There was also a **Bob Newhart Show** reunion (after **Newhart** finished) where, Bob Hartley kept talking about this very strange dream he just had the night before. The kicker is that at the end, Larry, Darryl, and Darryl show up in the elevator. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > And likewise, there was an episode of **Newhart** where Dick and Joanna go to see a marriage counselor. The patient who has the appointment right before them is Jack Riley, aka “Mr. Carlin” from **The Bob Newhart Show**. After he leaves, the therapist apologies for his sour attitude. She explains that she’s spent years working with him, trying to undo the damage done by “some quack in Chicago.” And **Murphy Brown** finally got a competent secretary: Carol from **The Bob Newhart Show**. Of course, Bob hired her back by the end of the episode. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oddest-most-interesting-connection-to-a-role-featured-on-a-different-show/703949.md?page=2)