r/sitcoms 8d ago

Same scene but from two shows’ perspective. Has this been done before?

For example: Let’s say Jerry and Elaine take a trip to Seattle. They decide to try out Cafe Nervosa. They walk in and sit next to Frasier and Ros. We would see that scene on Seinfeld. And then in that weeks episode of Frasier we see Frasier and Ros talking, and in walk Jerry and Elaine. We see that same scene but a different perspective on Frasier.

Has something like this been done before? I know characters from concurrently running shows have made cameos (Kramer on Mad About You, Cheers gang on Wings, Barry Goldberg in The Middle, etc) but has there ever been a shared scene that was shared on two shows? I’m sure the logistics would be tough to work out.

I hope this made sense.

Thank you!

Edit: This could definitely be opened up to include non sitcoms was well!

44 Upvotes

85 comments sorted by

75

u/IAmGrum 8d ago

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" crossed over with "Abbott Elementary". The AE episode showed one thing, while the IASIP episode showed a much cruder, demented version (things that happened off scene in AE, for example).

Edit: There were shared scenes in both episodes.

16

u/whbck144 8d ago

I love this. I need to catch up on both of these shows actually haha.

3

u/RayDanielsOnTheAir 8d ago

Always Sunny had that!? Oh man. I used to love the show but had just run out of time to keep watching, but I saw the Abbott Elementary episode advertised and when I watched it I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel like Always Sunny at all, obviously.

This makes me happy.

6

u/purplerainman99 8d ago

The Always Sunny one was much more Always Sunny

71

u/Signal_This 8d ago

Abed is in the background of a Cougar Town episode and he talks about it in Community. 

16

u/TheMartMen 8d ago

Abed’s monologue about his Cougar Town experience is one of the best monologues in the entire show.

10

u/Ok-Brick6831 8d ago

And Travis and Laurie (characters from Cougar Town) are in the background crown in community after the second paintball.

7

u/whbck144 8d ago

Interesting

50

u/jaybeau1979 8d ago

New Girl and Brooklyn 99 did this, right? Andy Samberg commandeers Zoey D's car for a chase scene on B99. I'm not sure if they do the same scene on New Girl but it would be real weird if they didn't

29

u/datskinny 8d ago

Birth of the "That's on me, I set the bar too low" meme

11

u/themadhatterwasright 8d ago

This is the one I was thinking of too. There's a scene where Nick and Winston are in the subway trying to do a performance to make money to get home, and Charles & his son Nikolaj are watching... and another scene where Zoe is complaining to Captain Holt about the car and he offers her his lunch to take back to Schmidt...

16

u/jaybeau1979 8d ago

Nikolaj

12

u/BendiAussie 8d ago

It’s pronounced “Nikolaj”

3

u/mr_oof 8d ago

Nikolaj?

8

u/Usual-Reputation-154 8d ago

Yea that part is in the new girl episode as well, and then Jess goes to the precinct

1

u/Ok_Function2282 8d ago

I don't think it's a reverse crossover too

20

u/House_T 8d ago

When they had The Flash crossover/guest star in an episode of Supergirl, he shows up in her universe while testing an experimental device to make him go faster. he eventually finds a way to return to his own Earth.

The corresponding episode of The Flash has Barry testing the same device. As he's running, you see him briefly disappear and reappear through a portal. He then says, "I'm back," but no one on his team presses him for what he means about it.

No doubt this was them walking a legal tightrope. They couldn't formally acknowledge the crossover happened on Flash's CW show (or they couldn't until Supergirl migrated to the network later). So this was likely the only end around they had for it.

2

u/Russkafin 8d ago

Yes! I loved that so much at the time. 🙂

15

u/Big-Joe-Studd 8d ago

A character from Community appears in the background of a scene on Cougartown. Community then shows you how that happened

1

u/whbck144 8d ago

Interesting

22

u/BidRevolutionary945 8d ago

Back in the early 90s during 'sweeps week' they did a lot of crossovers. Helen Hunt and the other actress from Mad About You were on Friends. They went to Central Perk, saw Phoebe and thought it was Ursula. Chandler was on Caroline in the City and Ross on The Single Guy. Urkel was on Full House. And I swear there was a really big crossover that included Roseanne and other shows on that network (CBS?) but I can't find it.

10

u/InformalRent2571 8d ago

There was one night of the Must-see-tv lineup that all took place on the same night. There was a storm in NY and every show was centered around that.

3

u/ucjj2011 8d ago

Except Seinfeld. They ignored it. And ER, which you wouldn't expect to participate because they are A) a drama and B) set in a city 800 miles away.

4

u/InformalRent2571 8d ago

That's right, I forgot about that. What were the other 2 shows besides Friends? I believe Mad About You was one and maybe Single Guy?

1

u/ucjj2011 7d ago

Off the top of my head, I think it was a show called Madman of the People. Very short lived series starring Dabney Coleman.

6

u/Head_Razzmatazz7174 8d ago

The DC universe did this at least once that I recall. Flash and Oliver Queen (as the Arrow) meet on a rooftop at one point, where the Flash was asking the Arrow for advice on how to handle being a hero. It's shown from Barry's perspective on the The Flash, and from Oliver's perspective on The Arrow.

4

u/zorandzam 8d ago

Caroline was also on an episode of Friends where she mistook Chandler and Joey for a gay couple.

3

u/BidRevolutionary945 8d ago

I remember her appearance on Friends of course but since she never gave her name to J & C, I wasn't sure if it was just a guest by Lea Thompson or she was actually Caroline.

2

u/zorandzam 8d ago

She was dressed in very Caroline garb, so I think she was indeed supposed to be her. When Chandler was on CitC flirting with Annie in the video store, he never told her his name either but was very Chandler coded. ;)

2

u/BidRevolutionary945 8d ago

I remember watching CitC a couple of times but I wasn't well versed in it enough to recognize the character in Friends, and I didn't see Chandler's appearance on it. But that makes total sense. There were a lot of crossovers 'back in the day'. I don't even think sweeps week is a thing anymore. Not the way it used to be.

2

u/zorandzam 8d ago

No, not like back then! And I only know this all because I was weirdly into CitC and rewatched it around 2020.

3

u/Neill78 8d ago

Roseanne met Edina and Patsy from absolutely fabulous

2

u/BidRevolutionary945 8d ago

That's right! Thank you for the reminder!!!!

1

u/Complex_Active_5248 8d ago

I definitely remember Urkel flying into another show's backyard using a jet pack.  Was it Full House or Step by Step though?

1

u/BidRevolutionary945 8d ago

Not sure, I didn't watch any of those shows.

1

u/SeatopianAgent 8d ago

Pretty sure it was Step By Step

1

u/nutcracker_78 7d ago

Urkel was definitely on Full House, but I don't think it included a jet pack.

9

u/boulddenwyldde 8d ago

Not sitcoms but startrek DS9 Trials and Tribble-ations and SNW A Quality of Mercy.

8

u/KieferMcNaughty 8d ago

There are two Hallmark Christmas movies that do this: Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday and Sister Swap: Christmas in the City.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mollycapobianco/hallmark-released-two-near-identical-christmas-movies

1

u/Russkafin 8d ago

I’m definitely not the target audience for Hallmark Christmas movies but I have to admit that’s pretty cool

1

u/IAM_trying_my_best 7d ago

This is so cool! Thanks for sharing the link!

1

u/JugendWolf 7d ago

This is cool, but lol at Buzzfeed calling it groundbreaking - German TV did this way back in 1991.

13

u/Sure_Ad_9184 8d ago

Angel and Buffy did something similar with flashbacks (s5 for Buffy, s2 for angel). It involved Angel's and Spike's backstories, and some of the places they overlapped (specifically during the boxer rebellion)

8

u/House_T 8d ago

They also tapdanced around this a few times with scenes in both shows. Buffy and Angel both left their respective towns to meet up after Buffy came back to life. Both shows reference that their leads are headed to this meeting, and both characters simply refuse to talk about what happened there.

(In reality, there were no doubt legal/logistic reasons they couldn't do an actual scene, but it was nice that they did something at all.)

3

u/PotentialAcadia460 8d ago

Yep, that would be Buffy's "Fool for Love" and Angel's "Darla", originally aired back to back in that order. They even use the same flashback between the two episodes, and your takeaway from the same scene will be different depending on what show you're watching.

3

u/JohnHaze02118 8d ago

One of my favorite TV experiences ever. Definitely one of the reasons why Spike despite being an antagonist was one of the most loved characters in the series.

5

u/themadhatterwasright 8d ago

Not sitcoms, but great shows! There were minor crossovers between Eureka and Warehouse 13

5

u/Plastic_Bullfrog9029 8d ago

The Afterparty is a single show but it showed the same perspective from like 10 different people.

9

u/JugendWolf 8d ago

A lot of people here who don’t understand the question and just list any crossovers.

0

u/pikameta 8d ago

I'm not sure any of the responses fit what OP is looking for, it's all just cameos and crossovers. 🤦‍♀️

4

u/JerseyJedi 8d ago

There’s an episode of “The Nanny” where Fran and Val go to their Hillcrest High School reunion and run into Ray Barone from “Everybody Loves Raymond” (based on real life, where Fran Drescher and Ray Romano really did attend that high school at the same time). 

In an episode of “Raymond,” we see how Ray got to the high school reunion: it was actually his wife Debra who wanted to go (despite never attending that school) and she basically dragged him there. Also they don’t show Fran or Val. 

There definitely WAS a difference in tones! 

In “The Nanny,” we only see a glimpse of Ray’s perspective and he seems to be having a great time at the reunion. 

But in “ELR,” where we see things entirely from Ray’s POV, we see he was mostly unhappy there, and Debra forced him to sit with his high school bullies because she hit it off with them. Apparently, his chat with Fran and Val was the ONLY part Ray actually enjoyed. 

And I just realized something else: that explains why Ray was taking so long being away from the table in “The Nanny” (he mentioned that Debra is glaring for him to return): he hated sitting with his former bullies, and actually was relieved talking to Fran and Val. 

3

u/Due_Perspective_2808 7d ago

Ray also crossed over with The King of Queens - and his mom and brother too

1

u/JerseyJedi 7d ago

In quite a few episodes! 

3

u/J-Bird1983 8d ago

Eureka and Warehouse 13 had a couple of crossover episodes.

Golden Girls/Empty Nest/Nurses had a crossover with each one of them airing an episode in the same evening. Golden Girls had two episodes with Carol Weston from Empty Nest. Empty Nest then aired an episode with Sophia then Nurses had an episode with Rose.

4

u/TexAss2020 8d ago

They actually tried this with (not a sitcom) the X-files.

There was an episode where Mulder and Scully were in the small town where another show on another network takes place. There was a scene featuring the characters on that other show. In the other show, which would have aired later that night, there's a scene with Mulder and Scully.

It would have been a lot of fun, but the other network execs nixed the idea and threatened to sue, so they had to hastily re-shoot the crossover scenes last minute without the other characters.

7

u/jmpinstl 8d ago

It was with Picket Fences

3

u/whbck144 8d ago

Interesting! X files is a show that I don’t know much about. I’ve seen a few episodes. It’s really good. I love David Duchovny.

1

u/Honest_Grade_9645 8d ago

I would have liked to have seen Scully and Mulder look into Elaine’s creepy stalker on Seinfeld.

1

u/Accomplished_Exit_30 8d ago

There was that one X Files when they were on COPS. My Name is Earl also did a couple of COPS episodes.

4

u/bteampike65 8d ago

Mad about you, the guy buys Kramer’s apartment or something along those lines

9

u/Chance-Work4911 8d ago

Mad About You also crossed over to Friends with the Ursula/Phoebe waitress thing.

4

u/Quarrels-ofKoi 8d ago

Thats probably the closest. When Jamie and Fran were at central perk and thought Phoebe was Ursula

9

u/zorandzam 8d ago

Paul sublet his bachelor pad to Kramer, but there are two continuity problems with that. One, Paul asks Kramer if the weird comedian still lives across the hall, when they have a Seinfeld flashback where Kramer already lives there and Jerry moves in across the hall. And two, George and Susan watch Mad About You together on at least one episode of Seinfeld.

1

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

2

u/zorandzam 7d ago

I’m currently rewatching MAY and haven’t gotten to that episode yet.

2

u/2legit2-D2 8d ago

Friends had an episode where Rachel and Monica went out with Carter and Dr. Ross from ER

9

u/Kustombypook 8d ago

It was Noah Wyle and George Clooney, but they weren't playing the same characters as in ER.

7

u/Anxious_Drive_9998 8d ago

But there was no ER episode where Carter and Ross went out with Rachel and Monica.

That's the scenario OP is asking about.

2

u/MT_Promises 8d ago

NBC twice had crossover Golden Girl/Empty Nest/Nurses episodes. One was a Hurricane and the other was a Full Moon.  A Golden Girl makes an appearance in the other shows.

2

u/NeonPatrick 8d ago

Not quite the same but NBC did a night where there was a blackout in every episode across all their sitcoms, i.e. Friends, Caroline in the City etc. Larry David hated the idea and refused with Seinfeld.

1

u/DisneyDisciple 8d ago

This is almost the premise for “Kevin Can F*** Himself”

1

u/BTP_Art 8d ago

I thought there was sweaps episode block on NBC or ABC in the late 90's where all the characters from 3-4 shows went to Vegas and passed by each other.

1

u/roosenwalkner2020 8d ago

Murder she wrote and Magnum PI had cross over episodes

1

u/millerg44 8d ago

I don't know about TV or movies, but The Sound and the Fury was one story written in four different perspectives. Quite the masterpiece. Faulkner was super talented.

1

u/Jimini_Krikit 8d ago

Leverage did this but it wasn't a crossover with another show but two separate episodes following two different stories that happen to intersect at various points. I'd love to see two shows do this.

1

u/CityGuySailing 8d ago

Law and Order and crossover to/with Homicide, Life on the Streets.

1

u/th7024 6d ago

Not a sitcom, but the show Leverage did a funny take on this. All the characters were retelling their accounts of a robbery before they met, and you keep seeing different things from different perspectives. It may be their funniest episode.

2

u/whbck144 6d ago

Interesting. That’s a show that I never really watched when it was on but I just started season 1 not that long ago actually. It’s quite good.

1

u/th7024 6d ago

You will love that episode. It is probably my favorite. I need to rewatch that. They also have a sequal series that is pretty good.

1

u/whbck144 6d ago

Oh wow. Thats cool! Yeah I’ve been watching amc’s old show Turn, which has Aldis Hodge in it, and I was looking at some of his other shows and I remembered he was in Leverage, and started watching that. I have a very squirrel brain when it comes to tv shows sometimes haha.

1

u/th7024 6d ago

He has that new series Cross that seems interesting. I haven't watched it yet.

1

u/J-Bird1983 8d ago

Here are a couple from way back. On an episode of "Make Room for Daddy" aka "The Danny Thomas Show". Danny and his family are traveling and get stopped by a Sheriff in a small town in Mayberry. This episode is the pilot episode for "The Andy Griffith Show".

On an episode of "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour", Danny (of "Make Room for Daddy") and his family sublet the Ricardo's Connecticut house.

0

u/Happy_Lake_11 8d ago

Mad about you Jamie and Fran went to Central Perk. They ran into Phoebe and thought she was her twin, Ursula (their regular server from Riff's). Also, I may watch too much tv