Let's face it: Crossover episodes totally rule.
Everyone loves watching their favorite characters from one TV show suddenly get thrown into
another.
But sometimes, writers get really odd ideas about which shows should cross paths.
After several years in development, a 2018 episode of Supernatural featured the Winchester
brothers getting sucked into a television and subsequently turned into cartoon versions
of themselves.
The next thing you know, they're teaming up with the Scooby Doo gang to solve a dastardly
mystery.
The result is actually pretty darn great.
This crazy crossover hits all the right notes, particularly if you're a Scooby Doo fan.
At one point, the gang even evades a ghastly ghoul by zipping in and out through various
"Scooby-Doo doors", which is the ultimate running gag.
We also get to witness Dean wolf down ridiculously huge sandwiches with Shaggy.
And, of course, this is said at one point:
"I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for those meddling kids."
"Ooh, he said it!"
Best of all, the episode never betrays the original cartoon's lighthearted tone.
As executive producer Andrew Dabb told USA Today:
"While this is a slightly more adult version of Scooby-Doo, we didn't want to make it this
grim and gritty Dark Knight Returns [take] where Shaggy's got one eye and Velma smokes
a cigarette."
Good call on that one.
These days, The X-Files is such a cultural institution that it's easy to forget just
how weird and wonderful the show really is.
Take the episode "X-Cops," which combined The X-Files with that trashy reality TV show
that launched in 1989, Cops.
As you may recall, Cops involved real-life police officers busting innumerable frazzled
perps.
Well, talk about two tastes that taste great together.
We're even treated to the Cops' theme song in the show's opening moments.
And we get those police lights when it's time for a commercial break, although they're superimposed
over the X-Files logo.
Of course, the LAPD officers here are all played by actors, and they're being assisted
by Scully and Mulder, who are in hot pursuit of a scary werewolf.
"Please help me!"
"Wetzel, don't be afraid!
It can't hurt you!"
Postmodern?
Definitely.
Weird?
Indeed.
By rights, this bizarre mashup shouldn't have worked at all, but thanks to Gilligan's deft
touch, it quickly became a fan-favorite episode.
Mr. Robot is a sharp, politically-charged TV series about a rebellious computer programmer
named Elliot played by Rami Malek.
Long story short, Elliot uses his genius tech skills to face-off against evil corporate
overlords.
It's edgy and stylish but ultimately rather somber stuff.
It's definitely not the sort of show where you'd expect to meet ... ALF, the furry alien
blowhard who loves to eat cats.
But here we are.
In 2016, ALF appeared on Mr. Robot, and the segment is just as bizarre as it sounds.
To be fair, the whole shebang is basically one of Elliot's many hallucinations … it's
not like they'd bulldoze the entire story just for this one bizarre cameo.
Still, that doesn't make it any less surreal to watch ALF as he runs over Gideon, casually
goes shopping, and riffs on one of his favorite catchphrases.
"Hey, no problem, E-Meister."
Even by Mr. Robot standards, this is a super-strange plot wrinkle.
Michael Scott the awkward dude played by Steve Carrell in the American version of The Office
is not really the world's best boss.
And neither is David Brent, his equally awkward equivalent in the original British program,
played by Ricky Gervais.
A meeting between both men could only be … well, super-awkward.
And that's exactly what it was when the two characters had a surprise elevator encounter
in a 2011 episode.
But rather than going down a predictable path like, say, Scott and Brent having a petty
squabble in the hall the brief encounter is surprisingly upbeat: The two men laugh, trade
stories, and even bond over a groan-worthy joke.
Comedy is a place where the mind goes to tickle itself.
That's what she said."
Fans had wanted to see this surreal pair-up for years … which is why it's a shame that
Gervais's surprise appearance was leaked before the episode premiered.
Still, the scene really couldn't have been more perfect.
That said, the idea of Scott and Brent occupying the same universe raises a few continuity
questions.
After all, the events in the U.S. pilot episode of The Office deliberately mirror those of
the English one, sometimes right down to the dialogue.
So it's rather odd that these two men meet one another and all while while being filmed
for two different documentaries about two different, equally dismal offices.
Perhaps it's best not to overthink this one too much.
If you happen to remember any episode of NBC's 90s' sitcom Mad About You, it's probably the
1992 episode "The Apartment."
The episode centers around an argument between lead characters Paul and Jamie, when the latter
realizes her husband never let the lease expire on his old bachelor pad.
Instead, he's been subletting it for years … just in case their relationship falls
apart and he suddenly finds himself needing to move.
By the end of the episode, Paul decides to give up the apartment to its current subletter.
To confirm this, he visits the old place, knocks on the door, and guess who answers?
None other than Seinfeld character Cosmo Kramer, played by Michael Richards.
"Is this yours?"
"I don't believe so."
"It's weird.
I don't know what it came from."
What a scream.
As cool as the crossover hoped to be, NBC kinda killed the fun by over-hyping it in
a slew of promotions.
Not only did they ruin the surprise, they set expectations way too high for this super-short
scene.
Oh well… we'll get over it one day.
Ask any diehard Friends fan whether Phoebe has any siblings, and they'll probably tell
you all about her sinister twin sister, Ursula.
In fact, Ursula existed as a fictional character long before Phoebe ever did... and the first
time we met her wasn't on Friends.
No, it was on Mad About You, a show that none of us will be able to escape in our lifetimes,
apparently.
In fact, Mad About You premiered in 1992, a few years before Friends came around in
1994.
Actress Lisa Kudrow nabbed the role of Ursula long before getting cast as Phoebe.
And once Friends became a monster hit, everyone realized that Kudrow playing two different
roles on two different NBC sitcoms might be weird for audiences … particularly since
the shows aired back-to-back.
So, the writers cooked up a simple solution: They rewrote Phoebe and Ursula as twins, thereby
linking the Friends and Mad About You universes together.
In the season one Friends episode "The One With Two Parts: Part 1," all sorts of hilarity
ensues when Helen Hunt makes an appearance as her Mad About You character Jamie and mistakes
Phoebe for Ursula.
"Hi, it's us."
"Right, and it's me."
Earlier in the same episode, Joey and Chandler are similarly confused when they mistake Ursula
for Phoebe.
"Wait.
What are you doing here?"
"Yeah I was over there and you said, 'Excuse me.
Hello?
Miss.'
So now I'm here."
"No, no, how come you're working here?"
Throughout the nineties, Jim Carrey mugged his way through a number of films including
The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
The supernatural vigilante and goofy animal detective really don't have too much in common
beyond the actor who originally played them but the characters did appear together in
cartoon form.
Twice, actually.
The first time was in an episode of The Mask: The Animated Series entitled "The Aceman Cometh."
Then the adventure, such as it was, continued in the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective episode,
"Have Mask, Will Travel."
Sounds fun in theory, but this animated crossover was missing a key ingredient: namely, Jim
Carrey.
Ventura was voiced by Michael Daingerfield, while Rob Paulsen voiced The Mask.
As a result, this not-so epic crossover basically found two voice actors bouncing their best
Jim Carrey impersonations off one another.
Still, this two-parter is a fun novelty... if you can accept it for what it is.
"Alrighty, then."
In a 2000 episode of Star Trek: Voyager, Seven of Nine is captured, imprisoned, and forced
to fight a character played by The Rock otherwise known as Dwayne Johnson.
As you can see, he's quite clearly wearing some pronounced forehead bumps, and he's called
a Pendari throughout the episode… presumably to prevent the Star Trek timeline from getting
irreparably torn asunder.
"I assure you, resistance is futile."
"So is all your talk."
But Dwayne Johnson is definitely doing his Rock act as only Dwayne Johnson can.
It's a deeply strange episode, and it marks one of the first times Johnson acted outside
of his wrestling wheelhouse as anyone but himself.
The episode aired a full year before The Mummy Returns turned him into a bonafide movie star.
That cocky swagger was a clear sign that bigger and theoretically better roles awaited.
Back in the early nineties, NBC was airing three spin-off sitcoms all set in the same
universe of Miami, Florida: Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses.
On November 9th, 1991, the powers-that-be decided to have all three shows host a truly
bizarre event that they called "Hurricane Saturday."
The whole thing was an interminable TV event that really had to be seen to be believed.
"Saturday, a two-hour television event comes to NBC!"
"When The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses get hit by a…"
'Hur—" "Hurricane!"
Long story short, the characters in each series had to survive the trauma of not one but two
fictional hurricanes hitting in rapid succession.
It would be remiss not to tell you that their names were Hurricane Gil and Hurricane Heidi.
"Carol, guess what?
I just heard on the radio…
Hurricane Heidi has changed direction and it's headed straight for us!"
Throughout this double whammy disaster, several characters cross over from one show to another.
Fortunately, no one got hurt except the people who tuned in to watch.
Hurricane Saturday turned out to be a huge success, so NBC tried it again in 1994.
And this time, the disaster was called...
Blackout Thursday.
"Thursday… the lights go out on NBC.
It's Blackout Thursday."
"Blackout?!"
"It's comedy in the dark!"
"Blackout!"
Oh, and guess what?
The whole event starts when Mad About You's Jamie Buchman accidentally causes a major
blackout in New York City.
Yes, it's her again.
The blackout ends up seriously impacting the Friends characters, too.
Remember when Chandler gets stuck inside that ATM booth?
You can blame Jamie for that.
In fact, at this point, you can blame Jamie for all your problems.
The blackout carried over into the short-lived Dabney Coleman sitcom Madman of the People,
but the folks at Seinfeld totally opted out … which was perhaps wise.
Believe or not, this kind of stunt was replicated, or at least parodied, a third time in 2011:
The Fox event "Night of the Hurricane" crossed over Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland
Show.
Nothing like a natural disaster to bring all your favorite and least favorite characters
together.
The Flintstones premiered in 1960, and The Jetsons hit the tube two short years later.
But somehow, it took almost three decades for the prehistoric clan to meet the far-out
family from the future.
Well, it finally happened in the 1987 TV movie The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones.
The plot involves Elroy and crew getting mixed up in a time machine malfunction that accidentally
shuttles them to the prehistoric era.
"Maybe we've gone so far into the future, time has started all over again."
As you've probably guessed, the two families become fast friends... but that's not to say
their meet-up is smooth sailing all the way.
"Hold it, hold it…
I said hold it, not disappear!"
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