I just watched, last night, the episode of The West Wing where Josh talked to someone on his staff about her Star Trek pin, and this led me to wonder to what extent TV characters talk about other “real world” TV shows, movies, or personalities.
Off the top of my head, I know that a lot of “real” TV exists in the Simpsons universe. Patty and Selma are big MacGyver fans, Abe Simpson and the other retirement-home residents are fans of Matlock, and I’m sure many other shows are mentioned by name (as opposed to simply being parodied).
The core of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer crew refer to themselves as the Scoobies, so Scooby-Doo apparently exists for them. As does Snoopy. If I remember correctly, Star Wars references were also fairly commonplace. (Actually, tons of pop-culture references were commonplace; it’s a sad testament to how long ago I watched BtVS that this is all I came up with.)
Colin Farrell and, presumably, his body of work exists in the Angel universe.
Sports Night acknowledged the existence of ESPN and, I believe, Fox Sports, though I don’t believe they named any actual programming or on-air personalities.
So, what other characters are watching the same shows we are?
In the Futurama universe, The Simpsons is regarded as a real TV show from the 20th century, and Matt Groening is the real person who created it.
In The Simpsons, Futurama is a real TV show and Matt Groening in the real person who created it.
To further complicate things, in one episode of The Simpsons, Bender is presented as a real character (granted, it was in a “future” episode, which might be considered outside continuity, like the Treehouses of Horror.)
But still, both TV shows acknowledge that the other exists in their respective universe.
…slightly off-topic but more related to your thread title, thanks to St Elsewhere, nearly every television show is related to everything else… http://www.poobala.com/cheersandelsewhere.html
Elroy Jetson watched Fred Flinstone on his watch TV (hardly surprising since they had the same producers and network).
Archie Bunker mentioned Laverne & Shirley (though he called them ‘Levine & Shelley’). Sanford & Son went on The Gong Show, as did Eunice Higgins from Carol Burnett/Mama’s Family.
Friends mentioned several TV shows, but I specifically remember What’s Happenin’! being refrerenced (by Chandler).
In a David E Kelly stupid mind thing - Ally McBeal and The Practice were in the same universe, and the characters crossed over a few times. In one episode, however, Ally’s tv was turned on to an episode of The Practice. Which was incredibly stupid.
Also, in Mad About You, The Alan Brady Show (the fake show that Rob Petrie worked on in Dick Van Dyke) was a real tv show.
In the Dr. Who episode, Rememberence of the Daleks, Sylvester McCoy’s doctor leaves the room just as the premiere episode of Dr. Who is about to be broadcast.
In The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, George would occasionally turn on the TV to watch The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show to see what Gracie was up to behind his back.
Hill Street Blues is evidently broadcast in Newhart’s world: Bob makes a big deal about Daniel J. Travanti of the show planning to stay at the Inn.
Similarly, in Bob, Newhart is established as being an old friend of George Wendt, who is known to everyone else as “They Guy Who Plays Norm on Cheers.”
Arrested Development had the Bluth family watching Mad Money with Jim Cramer and being happy that he has upgraded their stock to “Don’t Buy.” Similarly, George Michael goes with Ann to picket the home of Desparate Housewives producer Marc Cherry.
Not sure, but I remember that Melrose Place was a real show as well, which Jerry tried to pretend he didn’t like, but he couldn’t outsmart the polygraph (“Who do you think you are? Costanza?!”)
I remember one extremely obvious promotion ploy on The Monkees when Davy not only watched The Iron Horse (a short lived western) but explained its premise to Peter.
Sigmund & the Sea Munsters, a Sid & Marty Kroft production, had an episode with Jack Wild as Jack Wild, the star of H.R. Puffnstuff (oy, how pathetic am I for knowing that?).
Days of Our Lives exists on Friends but 1- it’s based in NYC, not LA 2- it features characters who never occurred on the actual soap 3- no mention is made of Victor Kyriakis, the Greek born sometime villain/sometime less so character played by Jennifer Aniston’s real-life (estranged) father John Aniston.
One episode of Taxi (in which Jim gives each cabbie $1000 to buy gifts for their loved ones) featured Scatman Crothers as a shut in who watches old TV shows all day long. He specifically mentions the episode of Gilligan’s Island where Gilligan thinks he’s Mary Ann and an episode of Bonanza involving a dog who traps the bad guys. Scatman guest starred on an episode of Bonanza that I’ve never seen, and I’ve wondered if he was describing the episode he appeared on as a joke.
Roseanne and family watched Bewitched (great in-joke about switching cast members) and The Beverly Hillbillies. They also did a spoof of The Patty Duke Show credits once (complete with William Schallert) but I don’t know if they ever referenced the show.
I think pretty much every long running sitcom has mentioned I Love Lucy.
The Jeffersons mentioned Dallas and parodied it in one episode. I don’t think they ever mentioned another Norman Lear show. {Not really relevant, but a Jeffersons nitpick moment- in one episode Louise is thrilled to learn that Sammy Davis, Jr., her idol, is staying across the hallway; she apparently has no recollection of the fact that she once met him at Archie Bunker’s house.)
Two references: One, Elaine was writing a “Murphy Brown,” which Jerry and George discovered the early manuscript for when they were looking for Jerry’s spare key.
The other, when Kramer took off for California, he landed a spot as Murphy’s secretary.