I can’t really condense what I’m talking about into a succinct thread title, so try to bear with me here.
My Name is Earl and Raising Hope share a lot of similar elements. For example; both shows feature ambiguous settings (Camden vs. Natesville), low-class families (Earl & Randy vs. the Chances), and other similarities that aren’t readily obvious. That’s not surprising; they come from the same production team.
I’m looking for similarities in other TV series’ from the same creator. Obviously there’s the JJ Abrams canon featuring time travel, alternate reality, etc. There’s also the Joss Whedon canon featuring… whatever he’s known for.
There’s the whole MTM Enterprises empire from the 1970’s. Smart writing, more or less real situations, a long-suffering but good-natured lead character and supporting characters strong enough to carry a story when called upon. You see it not only in the* Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart* shows, but also WKRP in Cincinnati, and even mostly forgotten series like The Tony Randall Show, Paul Sand in Friends & Lovers and dramas like White Shadow and Hill Street Blues.
Go far enough back and you’d find Quinn Martin Productions. The shows were nearly all cop/adventure shows, and were all structured as “Act I,” “Act II,” “Act II,” “Act IV,” and “Epilogue.” These were shows like The Streets of San Francisco, The Fugitive, The Invaders, Barnaby Jones, and Cannon.
Mark IV Productions (run by Jack Webb) always featured cops who were always excruciatingly honest, with one character that supplied a wry sense of humor. The crimes were a mixture of big and small ones, where only a handful were murders. These include Dragnet, Emergency, and Adam-12.
Pat Henning featured rural comedies that focused on the clash between the country and the big city. They big three were The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres.
David Kelly specialized in dramas featuring a whole raft of quirky characters (usually more quirky than anyone else on TV and which often were based upon things in the news (before Dick Wolf): Ally McBeal, Picket Fences, The Practice, Boston Legal, and others.
The earlier sequence of Quinn Martin shows (late '50s/early '60s) were even more alike: 77 Sunset Strip; Hawaiian Eye; Bourbon Street Beat; and Surfside 6, all private eye shows set in a warm weather city, all featuring a comic/eccentric character, and all having a young female singer in the cast to provide musical interludes. On top of that, the same non-regular actors would often be shuffled from one show to another.
Earl & Raising Hope occur in the same “Universe”. Camden County & Natesville aren’t next door to each other, but are apparently within easy driving distance. Camden County’s Daytime Hooker attended a support group in Natesville last season (I think), and the pilot included a newscaster reading a story that was obviously about Earl.
I’d like to think that Mindy of The Mindy Project might turn up as Jess’ gynocologist on New Girl someday.
The team of Glen and Les Charles and James Burrows created Cheers and Taxi. Both shows bore a strong similarity to the MTM family because all three of them got their start working for MTM.
Similarly, since the team of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman virtually invented the television game show, it’s hard to find any successful game show produced by anyone that doesn’t share at least some resemblence.
Bill Lawrence, a guiding force behind Scrubs, later created Cougar Town. Though CT is not quite as surreal as Scrubs could be, there’s definitely a similar tone and voice.
In fact, when the cast travelled to Hawaii, they met Ted, who became freaked out by how much his new acquaintances looked like the people he used to work with (as several actors have appeared on both shows).