# TV characters who later appeared on a different show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062 "2018-10-16T22:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [October 17, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/61 "2018-10-17T18:41:10Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s possibly stretching things a bit, but George Lazenby appears as a British secret agent driving an Aston Martin with plates reading “JB” in the TV movie _The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E._ > > They don’t explicitly _say_ he’s James Bond, but it’s about as close as they could get. And, besides, it’s not a TV character, but a movie character. I remember that. The woman in the car with Napoleon Solo (Ruta Lee, I think) looks at the license plate and says “Oooooooooh, **JB**!” ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/62 "2018-10-17T18:59:49Z")
Don’t forget Warren Cooledge, a basketball player on The White Knight who later was an orderly on St. Elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/63 "2018-10-17T19:10:05Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Johnny Carson appeared as himself on an episode of Newhart And on _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_ as well, although it was during a blackout so you never actually saw him. > [@Doug\_K](#): > > Don’t forget Warren Cooledge, a basketball player on The White Knight who later was an orderly on St. Elsewhere. Er, the earlier show was _The White Shadow_. Niles and Daphne from _Frasier_ appeared at the end of an episode of _Caroline in the City_. The ones I can think of that have “appeared” on _The Simpsons_ (with the live-action actors doing the characters’ voices): Fox Mulder and Dana Scully from _The X-Files_, and Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian from _24_. Werner Klemperer “sort of” appeared as Colonel Klink, but he “wasn’t really there.” Also, if animated characters count, Jay Sherman from _The Critic_, and Hank Hill (plus a few others in the background) from\* King of the Hill\*. (Well, and Rick & Morty, and Fred, Wilma, and Pebbles Flintstone, if you want to include the show’s couch openings.) Speaking of _St. Elsewhere_, there were a couple of “sort of” appearances: Betty White played, IIRC, a Navy admiral, and a character with amnesia who thought he was Mary Richards from _The Mary Tyler Moore Show_ called her “Sue Ann.” Tim Van Patten played a one-off character, and Warren Coolidge thought he was his high school basketball teammate “Salami.” ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/64 "2018-10-17T19:35:15Z")
Leonard Nimoy appears to Sheldon as Spock (voice and action figure) on The Big Bang Theory. Also Katee Sackhoff appears as Starbuck and George Takei as Sulu (sort of) in one of Howard’s fantasy sequences. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/65 "2018-10-17T20:37:21Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#): > > Somewhat related, Kermit, Ernie, and Bert went to The Muppet Show. I don’t recall Bert and Ernie appearing on the Muppet Show. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/66 "2018-10-17T20:46:11Z")
Four actors who were doctors on St. Elsewhere played patients who were also doctors on an episode of Scrubs. They were never named so you can hand wave they were all the same characters. Also characters from Scrubs appeared on Cougar Town. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/67 "2018-10-17T20:46:47Z")
Barbara Bain appeared on _Diagnosis: Murder_ as her character from _Mission: Impossible_, Cinnamon Carter. Mike Connors appeared in another episode of _Diagnosis: Murder_ as Joe Mannix. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/68 "2018-10-17T20:49:58Z")
Paul Reubens appeared as Pee Wee Herman on “Comedy Bang! Bang!” in 2013, SNL in 2011 and WWE Raw (wrestling) in 2010. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/69 "2018-10-17T20:53:06Z")
Didn’t some of the St. Elsewhere docs (aside from the aforementioned Alfre Woodard character also turn up on Homicide? And Scrubs for that matter? (or has that been covered?) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/70 "2018-10-17T22:24:28Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Also characters from Scrubs appeared on Cougar Town. This is a great one. I thought it was hilarious that sad sack Ted was spooked by Jules and her Dad, who had both played mean doctors on _Scrubs._ But I was also somewhat bummed that after he’d been given a happy ending with the love of his life at the end of _Scrubs_, he was shown on _Cougar Town_ to be single again and miserable. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/71 "2018-10-17T23:08:12Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > I don’t recall Bert and Ernie appearing on the Muppet Show. Guess performers on two occasions. ---
**Author:** ![Sloe\_Moe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/72 "2018-10-17T23:10:50Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Not that I know of. And I think I would know of it, if it were so. My brother told of one scene wherein the live cast had to dispose of a whole load of old books and newspapers and one suggested they sell them. One asked who would buy that many old newspapers and then one of them (I think it was David) shouted “Easy Reader!” ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2018, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/73 "2018-10-17T23:55:40Z")
Roy Thinnes played “Architect David Vincent” on "The Invaders (in color)"in the late sixties. He reprised the character in the 1995 mini-series of the same name, basically just a cameo\> Robert Knepper played Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell on “Prison Break”. Then did it again on “Breakout Kings”. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/74 "2018-10-18T00:26:55Z")
Miles Drentell from **thirtysomething** later showed up as the same character on **Once and Again**. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/75 "2018-10-18T01:54:24Z")
Cosmo Kramer (of **Seinfeld** ) appeared in an episode of _Mad About You_. Kramer’s apartment across the hall from Jerry was actually Paul’s bachelor pad from before he married Jaime. Kramer was subletting from Paul, as the latter couldn’t bear to give up his old good-times space once and for all. Kramer persuaded him to let it go. (Or something like that.) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/76 "2018-10-18T02:17:04Z")
Whoops, just noticed that the Scrubs appearance of the St. Elsewhere characters was mentioned upthread from my post. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2018, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/77 "2018-10-18T11:34:50Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > Cosmo Kramer (of **Seinfeld** ) appeared in an episode of _Mad About You_. Kramer’s apartment across the hall from Jerry was actually Paul’s bachelor pad from before he married Jaime. Kramer was subletting from Paul, as the latter couldn’t bear to give up his old good-times space once and for all. Kramer persuaded him to let it go. (Or something like that.) Interesting. In an episode of _ **Seinfeld** _, George and Susan were watching _ **Mad about You** _ in bed one night (much to George’s chagrin). ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/78 "2018-10-18T13:44:33Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > I don’t recall Bert and Ernie appearing on the Muppet Show. I didn’t either, but here it is: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np\_aQ6a-Zis](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np_aQ6a-Zis) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/79 "2018-10-18T13:46:04Z")
[Mr. Rogers appeared on Sesame Street.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqWDjJRhCkc) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062/80 "2018-10-18T15:02:30Z")
Several of these last ones seem to be shows that were running at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-characters-who-later-appeared-on-a-different-show/823062.md?page=5)