Show-within-a-show
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A show-within-a-show is typically a fictional television show featured within the fictional universe of a real television show, or a montage / one theatical show within another theatrical show (like Annie Get Your Gun). Less frequently, the term may be applied to a fictional radio show within a real television or radio show. It often features a frame story. Often such a show functions as an exaggerated version of the real show, a vehicle for writers to comment on their shows (e.g., The Itchy & Scratchy Show and Terrance and Phillip). Other times, the show is a parody of a different real show or shows (e.g., The Scary Door, a parody of The Twilight Zone). Some shows-within-shows are staffed by characters in the real show (e.g., FYI in Murphy Brown). Occasionally, the show mentioned within the show will be a non-fictional television show; David E. Kelley has done this several times, with, e.g, characters on his The Practice "wanting to get home to watch Boston Public; it starts at 8" [1] -- characters from the Boston Public fictional universe had earlier appeared on that show (see Breaking the fourth wall; see also continuity).
Historically, the idea of a story within a story is an ancient one, appearing in Vyasa's Mahabharata, Valmiki's Ramayana, Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra, the Hitopadesha, Baital Pachisi, The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, etc. The idea of a play within a play also appeared in The Phantom of the Opera, Ovid's Metamorphoses, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet, etc. Many films also feature this idea, with Singin' in the Rain and Pee-wee's Big Adventure being two examples.
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[edit] List of TV shows within shows
- UltraLord within The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
- Bionic Bunny, Dark Bunny, Terrific Turbo-Trooper Toy T-Bot Team, Mary Moo Cow, Vidiboobies, Love Ducks and many others in Arthur.
- The Colonial Gang within Battlestar Galactica.[2]
- The Gray Ghost and That's our Baby! within Batman: The Animated Series.
- Several television series including cop drama Manhunt, variety program Big Night Out, and medical drama Mercy Flight within The Box.
- Rainbow Monkeys and Yipper within Codename: Kids Next Door.
- Big Shots within Cowboy Bebop.
- Wrench and Scandalmakers within Arrested Development.
- Sick Sad World within Daria.
- The Bad Wolf television corporation in the 2005 series of Doctor Who.
- Now Where They At? within Drawn Together.
- Crash Nebula, Maho Mushi, and many other series shown in Channel Chasers within The Fairly OddParents.
- The Brown Hornet within Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
- Wake Up, San Francisco, Mr. Egghead, Rigby the Rhino within Full House.
- All My Circuits, Everybody Loves Hypno-toad, and The Scary Door within Futurama.
- Tomorrow's Another Day within Generations.
- Kujibiki Unbalance within Genshiken.
- Dinobonoids, The X-treme Adventures of Brandon and Mallory, and My Troubled Pony within The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
- Mysterious Mysteries and The Scary Monkey Show within Invader Zim.
- Men on Film within In Living Color.
- Life with Mr. Jiggy, Emergency Pet Groomer, Pals, Agony County, The Fearless Ferrett, Laugh Riot, and The Mod Quad within Kim Possible.
- Los Días y Las Noches de Monsigñor Martínez and Manger Babies within King of the Hill.
- Real **********ing Talk with Dollar Bill Montgomery within MADtv.
- Psycho Dad and Mr. Empty Pants within Married... with Children.
- Gekigangar III within Martian Successor Nadesico.
- WJM-TV Six O'Clock News, The Happy Homemaker, and Chuckles the Clown within The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
- Crime Lab: SF within [Monk].
- Bear on Patrol, Muppet News Flash, Pigs in Space, Veterinarian's Hospital and others within The Muppet Show.
- Vermont Today within Newhart.
- The Valley within The O.C.. Additionally, after MTV launched Laguna Beach: The Real O.C. the O.C-verse's equivalent of MTV launched Sherman Oaks: The Real Valley.
- Miss Sally's Schoolyard and Up Your Ante within Oz.
- Hip Hop Helicopter, Iesha, My Momma and Me, Two for Two, and Soul Sisters within The Proud Family.
- Androids within Red Dwarf.
- TJ Laser and It's Not My Problem ("I'd buy that for a dollar!") within RoboCop.
- Commander Cash within RoboCop: The Series.
- Reptar within Rugrats.
- Numerous shows within Saturday Night Live, including Wayne's World, It's Pat!, and Weekend Update.
- Jerry within Seinfeld.
- Elmo's World within Sesame Street.
- Tides of the heart within Shortland Street.
- Krusty the Clown, The Itchy & Scratchy Show, Bumblebee Man, Eye on Springfield, Smartline, and hundreds more[3] within The Simpsons.
- Terrance and Phillip, Behind the blow, Jesus and Pals, Fightin' Round the World, and Huntin' & Killin' within South Park.
- Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy and The New Adventures of Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy within SpongeBob SquarePants.
- Mathnet within Square One TV
- Wormhole X-Treme! within Stargate SG-1.
- Undercover Superstar, Better Days, and Revenge of the Babysitter within That's So Raven.
- Invitation to Love within Twin Peaks.
- Capitol Beat within The West Wing.
- Various segments within World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) programming, the majority of which are talk shows.
- The Fatheads, Wacky Delly, within Rocko's Modern Life.
- Floop's Fooglies within Spy Kids.
- LilyMu within Kappa Mikey.
- Wife Swap within Hope & Faith.
- Days of Our Lives and Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E. within Friends.
- Lives of Fire (Vidas de Fuego) and Dancing Queens (Mucha Muchachas), telenovelas within Ugly Betty.
- The Proud and the Passionate within Ryan's Hope
- Tears of our Years and Days of our Nights within Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
- The Cutting Edge and New Beginnings within All My Children
- Patterns within As the World Turns
- Crime Time within Peter Kay's Phoenix Night's and Max & Paddy's Road To Nowhere. Similarly named show within Drop The Dead Donkey.
- The Fluffy Bunny Show within The Secret Show.
[edit] List of TV shows about TV shows
- When the Whistle Blows within Extras
- Grosse Pointe within Grosse Pointe.
- Tool Time within Home Improvement.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 within Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the "experiments" were sold to basic cable as a TV series).
- The Larry Sanders Show within The Larry Sanders Show.
- The Alan Brady Show within The Dick Van Dyke Show.
- Garth Marenghi's Darkplace within Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
- Good Morning, Miami within Good Morning, Miami.
- Sports Night within Sports Night.
- Globelink News channel within Drop the Dead Donkey.
- FYI within Murphy Brown.
- The Sword of Damacles and Beaver Creek within Made in Canada.
- KYTV, a spoof of an entire fictional network.
- Frontline, a spoof of a current affairs television show.
- 31 Minutos, a spoof of a news program.
- The Red Green Show.
- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip within Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.
- The Girlie Show (later renamed TGS Starring Tracy Jordan) within 30 Rock.
- Drawn Together, a sitcom set on a fictitious TV reality show.
- Silverstone within The Famous Jett Jackson;
- also, in Jett Jackson: The Movie, the "real" Jett Jackson and "fictional" Agent Silverstone switched realities.
- SCTV, which is about a TV station.
- The Joe Schmo Show, a reality series about a fake reality series (Lap of Luxury and Last Chance for Love in seasons 1 and 2, respectively)
- Nobody's Watching, a sitcom presented as a reality show about two guys trying to make a sitcom.
- The Comeback, a reality show documenting the comeback of Valerie Cherish on to the sitcom Room and Bored.
- Max Headroom - a series set "20 minutes into the future" about the news department of a TV Network, "Network 23"
[edit] List of TV shows depicting radio shows
- Frasier
- Martin
- Midnight Caller
- NewsRadio
- The New WKRP in Cincinnati
- Remember WENN
- WKRP in Cincinnati
- Forever Knight featured a late-night radio show by vampire LaCroix
[edit] List of TV shows mentioned in other media
- Dick Justice, Address Unknown, Lords and Ladies, and Captain Baseball Bat Boy parodies featured in Max Payne and Max Payne 2
- The Steel Samurai and several (samurai themed) films in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
- Secret Agent Clank within Ratchet & Clank 3: Up Your Arsenal
