Crossover TV Shows

I have been fascinated by certain TV shows that link together, like The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, these three which form the so-called "Hooterville trilogy."

Many Green Acres episodes actually featured guest stars from Petticoat Junction.

However, I wonder if this could have been expanded more, like the cast of Gunsmoke appearing as guest stars on Have Gun - Will Travel, Perry Mason, Rawhide, The Wild, Wild West and Hawaii Five-O?

For example, if an episode of Hawaii Five-O ever had the cast of Perry Mason as guest stars, it might have said something in the end titles like:

(screen 1)
"Guest Stars from Perry Mason"
Raymond Burr as Perry Mason

(screen 2)
Barbara Hale as Della Street

(screen 3)
William Hopper as Paul Drake
William Talman as Hamilton Burger

(screen 4)
Richard Anderson as Lieutenant Drumm
Wesley Lau as Lieutenant Anderson

However, William Talman (Hamilton Burger) on August 30, 1968 (during production of season 1 of Hawaii Five-O), followed by William Hopper (Paul Drake) on March 6, 1970 (following the end of production of season 2), which would leave only Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale and Wesley Lau among the original cast of Perry Mason as potential guest stars to appear somewhere on all 12 seasons of Hawaii Five-O.

~Ben

 

There is an episode of HGWT where Matt Dillon is mentioned, as if he is part of the same real-life Wild West iconography as Wyatt Earp (the inspiration for the Dillon character) or Wild Bill Hickok.

Best I can do.

 

There were dozens of crossover episodes throughout TV history. An interesting one was The Practice with Ally McBeal, mostly because the shows were on two different networks, which was never done.

 

The big roadblock was not so much different networks, but different studios. I remember it was a big deal in the '80s when Murder She Wrote did a crossover with Magnum. In the '60s Batman (Fox) featured a cameo from Werner Klemperer, in full Luftwaffe uniform from Hogan's Heroes (Paramount). How that got worked out I don't know.

Crosssovers were almost commonplace with the Warners shows of the action-adventure era, as in this classic sequence from Maverick:

 

The CW Network recently had Crisis Infinite Earth play out across all its DC comics related shows. NBC has its Chicago centric shows intertwine from time to time as does ABC with Gray's Anatomy and some other show set in the same city . Seem to recall Fox doing a Millenium X-Files crossover too.

 

I think what you meant to say was, “Hooters-ville trilogy...dahling!

 

Richard Belzer's "Detective John Munch" character was introduced on Homicide: Life on the Street, moved to the Law & Order franchise when that series ended, and appeared on an episode of The X-Files.

 

Didn't someone have a theory that linked almost every show ever made? I recall reading about this a couple of years ago but I don't have time right now to research it. I'll bet someone out there can enlighten us...

 

There are 2 types of crossovers. One, in which characters make a guest appearance on another series, such as Warner did several times with their detective shows, such as 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, etc. The other kind, which becomes problematic in syndication, is when its a 2-part story, starting on one series and concluding on another. Some studios solved this by taking the two parts and putting it in the same syndication package, like Universal did with a couple of Marcus Welby/Owen Marshall crossovers. They put the Owen Marshall episodes in the Welby package. But not every studio did that. So, you would wind up with part one of a story but no part two. A few years ago, my friend in Chicago told me how a station ran the Felony Squad/Judd for the Defense 2-parter back to back. Except they ran the Judd part first, which was the 2nd part of the crossover! Dr. Kildare was more heavily syndicated than The Eleventh Hour, which contained the 2nd part of a crossover. When Kildare came out on DVD, no part two, and The Eleventh Hour stalled on DVD after season one. The 2nd part of the crossover was in season two.

 

Universal did the same with B. J. and the Bear and The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo, both of which aired on NBC in 1979.

Paramount also packaged Barefoot in the Park (1970 TV series) with Love, American Style when that series went into syndication in 1974.

~Ben

 

Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley crossed over occasionally.

 

Both ABC and NBC have done sweeps stunts involving crossovers between several primetime shows on the same night. Of course Freinds and Mad About You crossed-over occasionally because Lisa Kudrow played characters on both shows, twin sisters I believe they explained it. Law & Order is easy, as several series film in NYC, and at one time there were four L&O franchise shows airing simultaneously.

"Detective Munch" is indeed the most crossed-over character in current teevee history, for the number of guest shots Belcher has been invited to do.

The one that fascinates me the most though, is the CW Crisis event from this season. You not only had casts from all five CW DC-Universe shows, but also actors from Lois & Clark, Smallville actors from an earlier Flash show, Burt Ward from the 1960's Batman, and even actors from DC-Universe films -including animated ones - reprising their roles, as well as actors guesting as two previous characters. They really pulled out all the stops for this thing, and the contract talks and story meetings must have been massive. Can't say it was the best drama, but it was all one for fun, and I suppose, bragging rights.

The upshot resulted in something similar to DC Comics' original Crisis summertime crossover within the whole run of their comics: the convoluted universes they'd built-up over the years to explain why and how some characters would have met, others were similar but unrelated characters, and still others couldn't physically exist amongst others anyway...eventually got folded-into one connecting continuity. Years of storylines wiped clean like Bobby Ewing coming out of the shower. In the teevee version, the major continuity simplicity comes from finally establishing the Supergirl series (which began on CBS before moving to The CW), now exists with the rest of what was called "the Arrowverse[/I]...despite the character who started it all, Green Arrow...is now dead!

Whew! Suddenly the Marvel/Fox/Disney/Sony imbroglio doesn't seem quite so complicated...

 

Law and Order and Homicide. Didn't really work, though. The Homicide characters on L&O lost their character (and don't get me started on Munch in L&O...)

 

With a 10 year old daughter, I’ve discovered the teen sitcoms on Nickelodeon are nothing but crossovers/spinoffs ICarly, Sam & Cat, Victorious, Henry Danger... all from the mind of the big guy from “Head of the Class”... Dan Schneider.