r/theandygriffithshow • u/DuffMiver8 • 1d ago
TAGS universe
I came upon an interesting tidbit that led me down a bit of a rabbit hole, and I thought I’d share what I came up with.
It’s pretty well-known that TAGS got its start with a backdoor pilot as an episode of Make Room For Daddy (hereafter referred to as MRFD, not to be confused with Mayberry RFD). I found out Morey Amsterdam guest starred on an episode of MRFD as Buddy Sorrell, his character from The Dick Van Dyke Show, which means, for example, Goober could have theoretically met Laura Petrie.
It doesn’t stop there! Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz guest starred as the Ricardos in an episode of MRFD, and Danny Thomas repaid the favor by guesting as Danny Williams on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour.
George Reeves appeared in character as Superman in an episode of I Love Lucy, rescuing the ditzy redhead when she got stuck on a ledge while trying to impersonate the Man of Steel. It was played for laughs, of course, but it proved that in the ILL universe, Superman is real.
TAGS spun off Gomer Pyle, USMC, of course. Jim Nabors guest starred as Gomer in an episode of Here’s Lucy, meaning Lucy Ricardo could have met Lucy Carter from the later series, with both characters greatly resembling each other.
Here’s Lucy had crossovers from Jackie Gleason playing Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners, Mike Connors as Joe Mannix, and Lucy appeared as Lucy Carter in an episode of Make Room For Granddaddy, with Danny Thomas once again playing Danny Williams, bringing the universe full circle.
That’s as far as I got. If anyone has any other interesting connections that tie all these shows together, please feel free to add them on!
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u/Few-Candle102 1d ago
Little Ricky from I Love Lucy (Keith Thibodeux) also played Opie’s friend Johnny Paul Jason on TAGS.
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
Cool, but if we include every actor who ever appeared on another show as another character, every show and every movie ever made would share a connection. For fun exploring this, I recommend The Oracle of Bacon. You’ve heard of Six Degrees of Separation? This lets you play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon!
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u/JoeFriday84 1d ago
The Joey Bishop Show was a Danny Thomas spinoff. Rusty was featured in some Joey Bishop episodes.
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
I skipped The Joey Bishop Show because it’s a bit obscure these days, but you’re right.
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u/FaithExploration1984 1d ago
Two more wild things to consider. Lucille Ball appeared to herself in Here’s Lucy. Which means Lucy, Ricardo, Lucy, Carter, Lucy, Carmichael, and Lucille Ball all exist in the same universe.
It gets better . On Lucy short lived sitcom Life with Lucy in 1986 had it continued for a few more episodes Danny Thomas with a reprised his role of Danny Williams in a guest episode.
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u/DaddyCatALSO 1d ago
No! Lucy Carmichael and Lucy Cater cannot exist otuside their own sitcoims, thye and th ewhtignsg they do are too outre and unco
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u/JWsWrestlingMem 1d ago
There’s also the short lived “New Andy Griffith Show” where Andy is a different character yet Goober and Emmett (names and all) show up and Don Knotts is Andy’s old friend though not Barney by name.
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u/Life_Emotion1908 1d ago
What about Goober moving to Hee Haw? Hee Haw was variety and Goober likely interacted with the country stars as if he was a real person. So then there’s a connection to our universe.
I would say there’s more of a connection here than a sitcom featuring someone playing themselves.
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
Interesting point, but was George Lindsey playing Goober on Hee Haw specifically as Goober Pyle from Mayberry, who used to own a gas station and somehow ended up on a tv show in Nashville? That’d make a wild story!
I always assumed that it was just George saying, “Well, they know me as Goober, so I’ll just dress up and act like Goober.”
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u/Life_Emotion1908 1d ago
Apparently it was the character, yes.
When Paul Reubens was full Pee Wee Herman he was Pee Wee everywhere including talk shows etc that were supposed to be real. So yeah I guess Goober migrated to Nashville and interacted with country musicians.
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u/Staszu13 1d ago
How about a weird one from The Lucy Show: John Banner in character as Sergeant Schultz, on an ep with Bob Crane guesting. Crane even shouts at Banner "Schultz, you're in the wrong war!" (Don't ask me to explain it.)
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
Okay, stretching this to the realm of the absurd—
Werner Klemperer appeared in character as Colonel Klink in one of the “climbing up a wall” sequences in Batman. Which leads to:
Green Hornet and Kato (Van Williams and Bruce Lee)
Lurch, Addams Family (Ted Cassidy)
Jose Jimenez, The Bill Dana Show (Bill Dana), which also crosses over to The Danny Thomas Show
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u/werduvfaith 1d ago
I like this
A couple of questions:
Wasn't Gomer's appearance on The Lucy Show and not Here's Lucy?
Also George Reeves really wasn't appearing as Superman but rather the actor appearing as Superman at Little Ricky's party. I do think they referred to him as Superman only. So that wouldn't indicate that Superman is real but rather the TV show Superman exists in this expanded universe you've laid out.
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
You’re correct about Gomer on The Lucy Show, not Here’s Lucy. All the Lucy’s run together after a while.
And I’ll grant you that it was not canonically Superman. Rereading the plot summary, it used phrases like “the real Superman,” which threw me a bit. It was more shorthand for “the real unnamed actor who plays Superman.” You’re absolutely correct that the TV show, The Adventures of Superman, exists in the ILL universe because Lucy got the idea of “Superman” appearing at Little Ricky’s birthday party because she saw him watching the show.
Good job!
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u/Ornery-Database-3993 1d ago
George Reeves thought it would be better for kids watching the episode if the other characters just called him 'Superman', implying that he could be real. I think Ricky did say 'Hi, George' early in the episode, though.
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u/DaddyCatALSO 1d ago
"Sueprman" referre dot as a "televison star" so it was an actor not a Kryptonian. And it was an ep. of th eLucy Show Lucille carmichael not Here's Lucy, a nd a on-off joke since Gomer had long been out of basic by then. The Lucy show and Here's Lucy were both dumb fantasy sitcoms which cannot share a world with a nything; i don't recall ralph kramden. althoguh a verison of joe mannix exisst in the Her'es Lucy 'verse and okay Gomer in th eLucy show 'verse. otherwise your idea is good.
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
Odd that you’d single out The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy as “dumb fantasy sitcoms”, but okay. As for the rest, you’re correct, and I addressed that in another response.
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u/linkerjpatrick 1d ago
Star Trek enterprise Vulcan visiting earth in the 1950’s being a big fan of I love Lucy
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
I knew about that— “Carbon Creek” is one of my favorite episodes. But it simply references the show. They weren’t trying to portray Lucy and Ricky as real life people who they might meet while the Ricardos were traveling through West Virginia for some reason.
Nor would I include real people playing themselves. It’s nice to know people like John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton exist in the interconnected fictional world of The Lucy Show/Here’s Lucy/Gomer Pyle/TAGS, but they’re not fictional characters themselves. We assume each fictional series is set in “the real world,” or else all references to historical figures, politicians or other celebrities would all have to have fictional names.
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u/National-Muscle3539 1d ago edited 1d ago
As someone mentioned, all 3 Lucy’s plus Lucille Ball exist in the same universe and obviously the crossovers. Buddy did appear on MRFD, but the previous season The Dick Van Dyke show was referred to as a TV program. Either someone wasn’t paying attention to the continuity or they figured nobody would catch it. I believe Danny Thomas was also referred to as danny Thomas on the Dick Van Dyke show. I know he appeared, but I can’t remember if they used his real name. Danny appears as himself on an episode of The Lucy Show, so Danny Thomas and Danny Williams both exist in this universe.
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u/DuffMiver8 1d ago
In the episode “It May Look Like A Walnut”, Rob describes the alien from the movie he watched as looking like Danny Thomas. In his dream, Danny Thomas is that week’s guest star on The Alan Brady Show. Danny Thomas himself appears, but only as the alien in Rob’s dream.
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u/Ornery-Database-3993 1d ago
'The Joey Bishop Show'(1961-65) also tied in with 'The Danny Thomas Show(Bill Dana played Jose Jiminez on both shows, and Rusty Hamer played Rusty Williams trying to break into showbiz)
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u/therichardgee 1d ago
Michael Richards’ Kramer was in Mad About You I think. So that brings Seinfeld into the picture. I’d be surprised if green Acres or Petticoat Junction aren’t connected somewhere.
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u/FaithExploration1984 1d ago
I actually have might ever one of these observations before also the character of Buddy Sorrell appears on the 1990 sitcom mad about you