# TV shows addressing their detractors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727 "2006-03-31T17:59:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/21 "2006-03-31T22:10:28Z")
**Stargate: SG-1** had an amusing self-parody episode about the making of a TV series called **Wormhole X-treme**. There were several references to fans’ nitpicks, such as this: Yolanda Reese: “Uh, I’m having trouble with scene 27. It says I’m out of phase, so I can pass my hand through solid matter, or walk through walls.” Director: “Yeah, yeah, cos you’re out of phase.” Martin Lloyd: “Um, exactly.” Yolanda Reese: “So, how come I don’t fall through the floor?” Long pause, with Director and Martin staring at each other Martin Lloyd: “We’ll have to get back to you on that.” > **[Wormhole X-Treme!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole_X-Treme!_(Stargate_SG-1))** > > "Wormhole X-Treme!" is an episode from Season 5 of the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1. > The title also refers to a camp fictional science fiction series named Wormhole X-Treme!, a show-within-a-show that is portrayed in the episode. This was the 100th episode of Stargate SG-1, and as such was produced as a "special" episode laden with large numbers of in-jokes, cameo appearances, and heavy use of metafictional elements for comedic effect. > This episode is a continuation of the ... ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/22 "2006-03-31T22:20:18Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > The Saturday following Carson’s rant, Jim Belushi paid him a back-handed compliment by stating “Johnny, we here at Saturday Night Live respect you. We don’t watch your show…but we respect you.” [Nitpick] Providing that this DID happen during the first season (I honestly don’t recall), it would be **John** Belushi. [/Nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/23 "2006-03-31T23:26:03Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > **Stargate: SG-1** had an amusing self-parody episode about the making of a TV series called **Wormhole X-treme**. There were several references to fans’ nitpicks, such as this: > > Yolanda Reese: “Uh, I’m having trouble with scene 27. It says I’m out of phase, so I can pass my hand through solid matter, or walk through walls.” > Director: “Yeah, yeah, cos you’re out of phase.” > Martin Lloyd: “Um, exactly.” > Yolanda Reese: “So, how come I don’t fall through the floor?” > Long pause, with Director and Martin staring at each other > Martin Lloyd: “We’ll have to get back to you on that.” Did that also happen on Stargate? People were rendered out of phase except for the floor on an episode of Star Trek: TNG. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/24 "2006-03-31T23:44:22Z")
I don’t know if this counts, but in one episode of _Monk_, they threw in a sly reference to the complaints that fans had after Jeff Beal’s Emmy-winning instrumental theme song was replaced in the second season with a new song by Randy Newman (which also won an Emmy). In a case involving an actor in a _CSI_-style show, one woman is seen asking people to sign a protest for his show to go back to the original theme song. At the end of the episode, she thanks Monk for getting her idol off the hook, saying he’d be a great TV star, too. Monk disagrees. She says to him, “Promise me one thing…if you ever get your own TV show, don’t change the theme song.” The episode ends with _Monk_’s original theme. > [@Gangster Octopus](#): > > In the episode of The Simpsons that has Troy McClure hosting a special about the TV family, at the end he promised more wacky Simpsns adventures, one of which includes Homer ski-jumping over a shark. This was actually in a later episode, during a parody of Billy Joel’s song _We Didn’t Start the Fire_. Although there was a jab at the idea that _The Simpsons_’s quality was declining in this episode, too- Troy McClure promises that there will be more fun ahead next year with “America’s favorite family…and a little green alien named Ozmodiar that only Homer can see” (a reference to _The Flintstones_’s Great Gazoo, by which point the show’s writers had obviously run out of ideas). There was also one gag regarding the show’s longevity and quality (or lack thereof) that took two seasons to get to the punchline of: the final episode of the show’s 12th season opened with the Simpsons at an airport kiosk for Air Delaware. Homer exclaims, “The Simpsons are going to Delaware!” Lisa shouts, “I want to visit Wilmington!” Bart adds, “I’ve always wanted to visit a screen door factory!” This, in itself, is a funny play on the number of episodes in recent years which involved the Simpsons travelling to another country, most of which _did_ feature Homer shouting “The Simpsons are going to [insert exotic locale here]!,” but to fully get the joke, viewers had to remember the final episode of the _11th_ season, which was a parody of _Behind the Music_ tracking the ups and downs of the Simpsons’s career. The second-to-last scene\* in this episode featured Homer looking on as a producer is viewing a cut of a future episode: Homer exclaims, “The Simpsons are going to Delaware!” Lisa shouts, “I want to visit Wilmington!” Bart adds, “I’ve always wanted to visit a screen door factory.” Homer looks at the producer assuredly and says, “This’ll be the last season.” [sub]\*The last scene in the show is a preview of next week’s _Behind the Laughter_ “episode”: the Huckleberry Hound story. “I was so gay…but I couldn’t tell anybody!”[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/25 "2006-04-01T00:02:16Z")
> [@Push You Down](#): > > Do I get to be the first to point out that an entire episode of Arrested Development this season was devoted to this? That was also kind of a shot at their network, and they made constant hay out of their ratings problems. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/26 "2006-04-01T01:41:11Z")
The final episode of SportsNight (right before cancellation - after ABC had failed to promote it, schedule it, or run it in any way that made sense) “Anyone who can’t make money off of Sports Night should get out of the money-making business.” ---
**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:** [April 1, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/27 "2006-04-01T03:54:42Z")
“Gilligan’s Island” addressed the detractor of television shows everywhere–FCC chief Newton Minow–simply by _existing_. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/28 "2006-04-01T03:59:17Z")
They actually named the ship after him. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/29 "2006-04-01T06:35:45Z")
Boy Meets World- this is according to my sister, who insistst hat it happened, even though I don’t remember it. Morgan, the lttle sister, apparently disappeared for a few seasons. At some point, someone said, “wait, didn’t we used to have another kid? whatever happened to her?” and she (played by a new actress) came on and said something like, “wow, I’ve been in my room a long time!” Also, there’s one episode I KNOW happened- Eric (the older brother) gets a part on a sitcom- "Kid Gets Acquainted With the Universe"where they make fun of the show. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727/30 "2006-04-01T07:11:38Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > Boy Meets World- > > this is according to my sister, who insistst hat it happened, even though I don’t remember it. > > Morgan, the lttle sister, apparently disappeared for a few seasons. At some point, someone said, “wait, didn’t we used to have another kid? whatever happened to her?” and she (played by a new actress) came on and said something like, “wow, I’ve been in my room a long time!” Yup, it actually happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-shows-addressing-their-detractors/350727.md?page=1)