The Tommyverse: TV Crossover Central!

[Kromm]

For years I loosely followed a dedicated soldier on LiveJournal (I knew only his code-name for years, "Crossoverman"), who tried to document what he referred to as "The Tommyverse".  Big parts of his original site are down (he had a whole page explaining this which is flat out gone, and the LJ part hasn't been updated in 8 years!), but it was so fascinating, let me paraphrase it here.

 

One base of the premise was this:  John Munch.

 

Munch's TV show hopping (note I said "John Munch", not "Richard Belzer") made this guy notice that if you went a LITTLE further, eventually you'd notice that in some fashion almost all of TV was linked.  Some easily, and some needed a lot more work to tie them in. More about that in a bit.

 

The second base of his effort had to do with the quirky fact that one of the shows he knew quickly and easily tied in was St. Elsewhere.  

 

Crossoverman thought it was kind of morbid but fun to focus on the fact that in the final episode of St. Elsewhere the show asserted that everything we saw on the show existed only in the mind of the autistic child character, Tommy Westphall. Thus, if all of TV could be linked to St. Elsewhere in some fashion (Munch was a key part of this, but hardly the only one), then all of TV happened inside Tommy's imagination.  So.. The Tommyverse.

 

Among other fans, the late great writer Dwayne McDuffie (the main creative force behind everything that was good about Justice League Unlimited, Static Shock and Ben 10) was a fan of the theory (and Crossoverman's old website).  

 

Anyway, apparently Crossoverman is really two people, Keith Gow and Ash Crowe, and they have a newer site. Here: http://thetommywestphall.wordpress.com/

 

There used to be a grid that illustrated all of the crossovers between shows, but apparently with nearly 400 now tied in it got impossible to maintain.  But it's fun to look at the older versions they have archived on their site.  They also do however have a Google Docs Excel spreadsheet of linked shows that's been updated as recently as this past fall (yeah, that's a terrible turn around time--it looks like hey intended to run it more full time as of last fall but... haven't)  What gets confusing (because they haven't kept everything up) is HOW all the shows are linked (although linked on their site are other older documents with much of that info).

 

Anyway, if you simply Google "Tommyverse" you'll find tons of articles, blogs and other mentions over the years.  Nobody really had the energy to keep a more organized reference than these two guys, but it's gotten pretty well known in a way. There's also this Tommy Westphall Wiki I just found, which appears to run without any formal link to those other guys, but somehow wound up with about 120 articles (which is far from the almost 400 figure, but looks like it's been done completely independently).  Also, a few years ago, someone made this fancy Tommyverse poster (which of course is also horribly out of date by now).

 

Anyway, I thought I'd start with that introduction, although I don't expect us to take this over or anything like that (TOO MUCH WORK!).  But I thought it would be nice to start off a nice general thread about TV Crossovers mentioning this great resource and the wacky but fun theory/meme it's responsible for.

 

So.. talk about your favorite crossovers!  You can even mention ol' Tommy W., or the King of Crossovers, Det. John Munch, if you want, but no obligation!

Oh, as for the part I left hanging about "Some (linked) easily, and some needed a lot more work to tie them in", what I mean was that some tie-ins were as easy as characters appearing on each other's shows, but others had stuff like common fictional events, places, or companies being common to both shows, or sometimes even commonly used fake PRODUCTS. For one example of that last, Google "Morley Cigarettes".  They alone link a few dozen shows, if I'm remembering properly.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Kromm

[AntiBeeSpray]

Loved him on the X-Files when he was in an episode of it. Wished Mulder and Scully would have been in it though.

[Kromm]

It's so funny because when I saw this thread the first thing I thought of was Munch.  Richard Belzer played him on ten show over the course of 21 years.

I actually think that Wikipedia entry is wrong.  It's either 12 or 13 shows.  He was supposedly on the French version of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (called "Paris enquêtes criminelles").  And apparently he was on Sesame Street (although there's apparently some doubt on if he was playing Munch or just Belzer impersonating someone Munch-like).  That last which is admittedly a bit of a reach, but that same wikipedia page credits him being on The Jimmy Kimmel Show "in character" as counting.

 

So the whole tally is Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, 30 Rock, The X-Files, Arrested Development, The Beat, The Wire, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the UK's Luther, Paris enquêtes criminelles, and finally..debateably... Sesame Street. 

 

 

The character has even been in a book, albeit under a real person's name.  Homicide: Life on the Street was based on the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, and Munch was based entirely on a real person named Jay Landsman (who to complicate things even more, has appeared on TV several times himself).

Edited August 2, 2014 by Kromm

[Athena]

He was supposedly on the French version of Law & Order: Criminal Intent (called "Paris enquêtes criminelles").  

 

Of course there would be a French L&O, but you've inspired me so much that I decided to YT some clips. I understand French so it was a pretty interesting couple of mins. Interesting! 

 

Back to your regularly schedule snark.

[Kromm]

Of course there would be a French L&O, but you've inspired me so much that I decided to YT some clips. I understand French so it was a pretty interesting couple of mins. Interesting! 

 

Back to your regularly schedule snark.

I find it doubly weird that it's not even the base L&O they adapted, it's Criminal Intent.  Which I just don't get.  I guess maybe it has the same "hook" (that you have some mad genius D'Onofrio-like savant running roughshod over people?

 

Wikipedia says there's a Russian Criminal Intent adaptation too.  That's even more of a WTF?

 

Hey, lets see if I can successfully cut and paste the name of that one....  Закон и порядок. Преступный умысел

Hee!  It worked!  And I even found a YT video of an episode googling that, but I won't embed or link because it's a full episode (so not "kosher").

[ParadoxLost]

Loved him on the X-Files when he was in an episode of it. Wished Mulder and Scully would have been in it though.

 So X Files lets you hop to Picket Fences via the non-crossover crossover where the networks put the kibosh on the crossover, but Picket Fences referred to the events that happened in X Files anyway. 

 

Picket Fences gets you to Chicago Hope.  Chicago Hope gets you back to Homocide again via Mandy Patinkin's Gieger and to Early Edition.  Early Edition can get you to the Twilight Zone.

[ParadoxLost]

So let's see if I can get all of NBC must see TV into Tommyverse.

 

St Elsewhere docs drank at Cheers.

Cheers gets you Wings and Frasier.

Frasier gets you Caroline in the City via Niles which gets you Friends via Chandler.

Friends gets you Mad About You via Ursula.

Mad About You gets you Seinfeld via Kramer.

Kramer also gets you Murphy Brown when he had a bit part as her new secretary.

Murphy Brown gets you VP Dan Quayle and now the real world is in Tommyverse.

 

Well, I didn't get ER but I got us.

[Kromm]

So let's see if I can get all of NBC must see TV into Tommyverse.

 

St Elsewhere docs drank at Cheers.

Cheers gets you Wings and Frasier.

Frasier gets you Caroline in the City via Niles which gets you Friends via Chandler.

Friends gets you Mad About You via Ursula.

Mad About You gets you Seinfeld via Kramer.

Kramer also gets you Murphy Brown when he had a bit part as her new secretary.

Murphy Brown gets you VP Dan Quayle and now the real world is in Tommyverse.

 

Well, I didn't get ER but I got us.

I know ER is in there in a big way, I just don't remember the intersecting shows or the characters, props, places or actions that linked it in.  The documentation on those Tommyverse sites is so scattered (everything up to 2007 is in this, and everything after is apparently just in... various posts around the Internet)

 

EDIT -- Oh, here's at least one link I found listed (but it's tenuous, so debatable-but remember this isn't always about actual characters appearing on both shows).  "A reporter on Chicago Hope talked to Dr. Austin about having been accepted into the space program and mentions an ER doctor from County was also accepted. In a separate episode of ER Dr. Greene was accepted into the space program".  Once you backdoor into connecting ER and Chicago Hope, you also apparently get (through various links on either side) a WHOLE mess of other stuff.  In fact, here's the whole section I found:

 

5. Top right: Chicago Hope's Jeffrey Geiger accepted an organ of a victim on Homicide. Also St. Elsewhere's Dr. Craig won the (fictional) Cushing Left Anterior Descending Artery Award later won by Chicago Hope's Kate Austin.

A. Chicago Hope's Jefftey Geiger treated Picket Fences' Douglas Wambaugh who came to Chicago with Jill Brock (also of Picket Fences)

i. When cows started dying in Picket Fences’ Rome, Wisconsin, a resident of Rome mentioned all the crazy cow happenings in Delta Glen, Wisconsin which were investigated by X-Files’ Muder and Scully.

B. Early Edition's Gary and Marissa went to Chicago Hope’s hospital for medical treatment.

i. Early Edition's Gary is asked to locate someone for Martial Law's Sammo Law

(1) Martial Law's Sammo Law chased a suspect to Texas and was aided by Walker, Texas Ranger.

(a) Walker, Texas Ranger spun-off Sons of Thunder.

C. A reporter on Chicago Hope talked to Dr. Austin about having been accepted into the space program and mentions an ER doctor from County was also accepted. In a separate episode of ER Dr. Greene was accepted in the space program.

i. ER’s Dr. Lewis went to New York to look for here sister and was aided by the characters of Thrid Watch.

(1) A sick suspect on Third Watch triggers an investigation by the characters from Medical Investigation.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Kromm

[The Crazed Spruce]

Kramer also gets you Murphy Brown when he had a bit part as her new secretary.

Murphy Brown gets you VP Dan Quayle and now the real world is in Tommyverse.

Hate to say it, but Kramer's appearance on Murphy Brown on Seinfeld only proves that the show Murphy Brown exists in the Seinfeld universe.  (It did make for a great semi-crossover moment, though.)

[Kromm]

Hate to say it, but Kramer's appearance on Murphy Brown on Seinfeld only proves that the show Murphy Brown exists in the Seinfeld universe.  (It did make for a great semi-crossover moment, though.)

Oh wait.  It took me awhile to get what you meant.  Because Kramer wasn't meeting anybody in Murphy Brown's world, he was instead meeting Candice Bergen and the other actors and acting on their show.  So yeah.  No crossover.

 

There may be a way to link these shows via a backdoor though.

 

Hmm. Seinfeld didn't do THAT many crossovers, but they DID do one to Mad About You (Kramer rented Paul's old apartment--I even remember that without a lookup), and Mad About You links to Friends (this one's even easier--it's via Ursula) and Friends opens the floodgates to lots of other shows, meanwhile Murphy Brown similarly was linked to The Nanny (Jim Dial reported on a plane crash which was a plot element on The Nanny--and yes, I had to look that one up!), which in turn was linked to Everybody Loves Raymond (Fran and Raymond went to the same High School apparently). So you've got two huge shows, Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond, attached on each end, so all you'd need to do if find some common link (or series of links) between those two.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Kromm

[The Crazed Spruce]

I'm thinking I should add something productive to this thread.... :)

 

Not sure where it fits on the chart, but characters from Roseanne, Grace Under Fire, Ellen, and The Drew Carey Show were all in Las Vegas at the same time once.  I think Coach crossed over with The Drew Carey Show, too.

 

The pilot for the Knight Rider remake had a scene in the casino from Las Vegas, which crossed over a number of times with Crossing Jordan.

 

My Name is Earl and Raising Hope are linked by a news report in the RH pilot.

 

Not sure how they fit in the whole mosaic, but at least we've got a few more puzzle pieces to work with. :)

[Kromm]

It's a shame that I bet nobody has a good accurate up to date record of which shows include something I mentioned before, Morley Cigarettes, because that alone links so many shows (it's a link because Morley is a fictional brand, standing in for Marlboro and when you see it then you could interpret it as evidence that any show with Morley is in the same fictional world).  

 

Also we've got Oceanic Airlines linking a whole bunch of shows--airlines with that name were in movies decades before Lost, but of course Lost's success launched a ton of "tribute" uses. Even recently... if anybody saw The Goldbergs this past season, remember that episode where Barry went to the Airport?  Guess what the name of the Airline was that he was standing outside of at the end of the episode?  

 

 

 

Also, Once Upon A Time... one of the season 1 episodes showed a plane flying over Storybrooke and some gung ho person on the Internet actually zoomed on the tail-fin of the plane and noticed it had an Oceanic logo on it.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Kromm

[Raja]

So let's see if I can get all of NBC must see TV into Tommyverse.

St Elsewhere docs drank at Cheers.

Cheers gets you Wings and Frasier.

Frasier gets you Caroline in the City via Niles which gets you Friends via Chandler.

Friends gets you Mad About You via Ursula.

Mad About You gets you Seinfeld via Kramer.

Kramer also gets you Murphy Brown when he had a bit part as her new secretary.

Murphy Brown gets you VP Dan Quayle and now the real world is in Tommyverse.

Well, I didn't get ER but I got us.

Well if all of NBC is in then the CBS Morning News with Harry Smith being a reoccurring bit on Picket Fences also brings in the real world

[ABay]

Hudson University, notorious alma mater of strippers working their way through law school and uncountable numbers of killers and victims in the L&O universe, was also mentioned on Castle. Castle's station house is 12 a.k.a The ol' 1-2 from Barney Miller.

 

Ive wondered if St. Sebastian Hospital from Lost was a crossover...I know I heard it in another show but I've forgotten what it was now. Something set in L.A. The Closer, maybe?

 

Thanks so much for this topic! I can't wait to check all of the links!

 

ETA: From the dangerousminds.net link: Darrin Stephens from Bewitched is referenced as part of the St. Elsewhere universe. Technically, it's his mother. I remember the scene well because it was really just a throwaway line. A psychiatrist played by GW Bailey is on the phone and you just catch him saying "I'm sure your daughter-in-law is not a witch, Mrs. Stevens."

Edited August 2, 2014 by ABay

[Kromm]

Since it's been done so much with Oceanic Airlines, I'm always peripherally on the lookout for organizations like Wolfram & Hart, or Massive Dynamics, or such planted in background shots (like logos in the background, or on pieces of paper or on computer screens) on shows.

 

I believe Cyberdyne Systems Corp. has popped up occasionally.  ACME Corp. is another "natural" one that I know has.

 

EDIT - Wow, the Internet really DOES have everything. Look what I just found.  It's kinda nutty in a wonderful way that this even exists (and that it's been maintained enough to have 584 entries)  It does, however, not appear to be TV specific (frankly it's got far more from video games in it, although it also has a lot of anime ones)

 

Edited August 3, 2014 by Kromm

[Kel Varnsen]

Hmm. Seinfeld didn't do THAT many crossovers, but they DID do one to Mad About You (Kramer rented Paul's old apartment--I even remember that without a lookup), and Mad About You links to Friends (this one's even easier--it's via Ursula) and Friends opens the floodgates to lots of other shows, meanwhile Murphy Brown similarly was linked to The Nanny (Jim Dial reported on a plane crash which was a plot element on The Nanny--and yes, I had to look that one up!), which in turn was linked to Everybody Loves Raymond (Fran and Raymond went to the same High School apparently). So you've got two huge shows, Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond, attached on each end, so all you'd need to do if find some common link (or series of links) between those two.

The Mad About You/Seinfeld is a weird one since yes Kramer rents Paul Reiser's apartment, but at the same time George and Susan from Seinfeld watch the TV show "Mad About You".

[The Crazed Spruce]

I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned the infamous Hudson University, the site of many a campus-related crime on Law & Order, Castle, Blue Bloods, Tru Calling, Without A Trace, and Unforgettable, and was at least mentioned on The Cosby Show, The Secret Life of The American Teenager, Touch, and even Degrassi: The Next Generation.

[Kromm]

Duff Beer is now apparently a real world thing.  But fictionally apparently it appeared in Stargate: Atlantis as well as the place we all know it originally came from...  That said, I believe The Simpsons is never considered part of The Tommyverse (because it doesn't include animated shows).  So if the Stargate shows are connected into it, it's got to be in some other fashion (at least in the 2008 spreadsheet they didn't have any connection to any Stargate show documented).

 

One I had never been aware of until today (thanks Google!) is FinderSpyder.  Apparently CSI, Dexter and Breaking Bad have ALL had this same fictional Internet search engine on it.  So if ANY of those shows are in the Tommyverse, then they all are (CSI definitely is, because Warrick smoked Morley Cigarettes).

 

Edited August 4, 2014 by Kromm

[The Crazed Spruce]

One I had never been aware of until today (thanks Google!) is FinderSpyder.  Apparently CSI, Dexter and Breaking Bad have ALL had this same fictional Internet search engine on it.  So if ANY of those shows are in the Tommyverse, then they all are (CSI definitely is, because Warrick smoked Morley Cigarettes).

 

According to its Wikipedia page, Finder-Spyder also showed up in Criminal Minds, Crossing Jordan, Hidden Palms, Heroes, Hung, Journeyman, Moonlight (the one-season-wonder vampire detective show, not to be confused with the classic private eye rom-com), Prison Break, The Finder (which links straight to Bones), The X-Files, Touch, Weeds, and Without a Trace.

[Kromm]

With that list, I'm trying to figure out what the first use was (the Wikipedia page you linked doesn't say).  Like Morley, it's probably The X-Files (since it predates all of the other shows), although there's an outside chance it could have been CSI or Crossing Jordan, since X-Files was still on the air when they began.

 

EDIT - process of elimination it HAS to be The X-Files.  The wiki page doesn't have an episode for when it was on that show, but it does have one for CSI (s06E22) and Crossing Jordan (s06e07).  Both of those episodes were long after X-Files went off the air, ergo if FinderSpyder really appeared on the X-Files at all, it had to be earlier.

 

It's worth noting that at least one article on this doesn't include mention of The X-Files at all.

Edited August 4, 2014 by Kromm

[Kromm]

There's also Gannon--a fake car rental company.  Apparently found on Lost, Heroes and Nip/Tuck.

 

EDIT - Apparently also on Glee (Kurt allegedly holds a Gannon pamphlet in Season 4, Episode 1, but I can't find a screencap of that one)

 

Lost

 

Heroes

 

Nip/Tuck

Edited August 4, 2014 by Kromm

[DittyDotDot]

This is a fun thread. I have nothing to offer--I have watched many of the shows mentioned, but never noticed the crossover bits--I just wanted to say you guys are awesome!

[ABay]

@The Crazed Spruce, I did actually mention Hudson University 3 posts above yours, although I wasn't aware of its use on many of the shows you mentioned.

[merylinkid]

If any show connects to Without a Trace, then they are connected to the CSIverse, because CSI original flavor did a crossover with WIthout a Trace.   The story started in Vegas and ended in NY with the Without a Trace gang helping to find a missing kid.   

[Kel Varnsen]

There's also Gannon--a fake car rental company.  Apparently found on Lost, Heroes and Nip/Tuck.

 

If you are going to count fake companies, then Heisler beer was drunk in tons of shows including CSI, Burn Notice, Bones, Blue Bloods, Happy Endings, My Name is Earl, Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Veronica Mars.

[Kel Varnsen]

My Name is Earl and Raising Hope are linked by a news report in the RH pilot.

There is an even stronger link in the second season of Raising Hope, where Patty the Daytime Hooker shows up and says she is from Camden County.

[Brandi Maxxxx]

Raising Hope also crossed over with Yes, Dear.

[Skyfall]

Justified and Rectify are linked via Daniel's release clipping being seen on Justified

Simpsons is linked to Family Guy which is linked to The Clevand Show, American Dad, and Futurama at the very least

[Kel Varnsen]

Simpsons is linked to Family Guy which is linked to The Clevand Show, American Dad, and Futurama at the very least

What's the futurerama link? Because I Remember reading an interview with Matt Groening (I think it was for a simpsons/futurrama comic) where he talked about how crossing over those two worlds was difficult at least for the comic. His work around was that futurama was the real world in the 30th century, while Simpsons was a 20th century fictional cartoon. Plus the other way doesn't really work, because it has been established that Futurama is a show that people on the Simpsons. Millhouse has a Bender doll.

[Skyfall]

What's the futurerama link? Because I Remember reading an interview with Matt Groening (I think it was for a simpsons/futurrama comic) where he talked about how crossing over those two worlds was difficult at least for the comic. His work around was that futurama was the real world in the 30th century, while Simpsons was a 20th century fictional cartoon. Plus the other way doesn't really work, because it has been established that Futurama is a show that people on the Simpsons. Millhouse has a Bender doll.

 

The Simpsons is also linked to Robot Chicken via Family Guy (the Peter vs Chris debate about the Star Wars episode done by Robot Chicken)

Edited August 16, 2014 by Skyfall

[Kromm]

 

The Simpsons is also linked to Robot Chicken via Family Guy (the Peter vs Chris debate about the Star Wars episode done by Robot Chicken)

That doesn't seem like a link between universes.  It sounds like a statement that a show called Robot Chicken exists in the Family Guy world.  

 

Really this kind of thing is near impossible with ANY animated show. It's kind of a basic tenet that something has to be "real" inside a universe, but NOT real in our world, to link them.  I suppose you could use a real show as the link, but the version of the show in that universe has to be fictionalized in some way and whatever other show it pops up in has to make it clear it's dealing with the same fictionalized version of that otherwise real show.

[Kel Varnsen]

Really this kind of thing is near impossible with ANY animated show. It's kind of a basic tenet that something has to be "real" inside a universe, but NOT real in our world, to link them.  I suppose you could use a real show as the link, but the version of the show in that universe has to be fictionalized in some way and whatever other show it pops up in has to make it clear it's dealing with the same fictionalized version of that otherwise real show.

This is sort of what I think Matt Groening was talking about in that comic I mentioned above. If I remember it was a simpsons/futurama crossover comic and his issue was that in his mind Futurama is the real world in the future, which is why the characters have more natural looking skin tones, while Simpsons is a cartoon. So I think his workaround was that the Simpsons was a 20th century cartoon that existed in the Futurama universe (although I think the opposite is true based on some simpsons episodes).

[marketdoctor]

 

It's kind of a basic tenet that something has to be "real" inside a universe, but NOT real in our world, to link them.  I suppose you could use a real show as the link, but the version of the show in that universe has to be fictionalized in some way and whatever other show it pops up in has to make it clear it's dealing with the same fictionalized version of that otherwise real show.

 

That explains something I've wondered about.  In one episode of "The Green Hornet", they watch an episode of the 1966 or so "Batman"; in other episodes, the Green Hornet and Kato meet Batman & Robin (in both cases, the Adam West/Burt Ward version.)  On "The Green Hornet" they might be watching a documentary, though.  It ties into "our" universe when on Batman, various guest stars play themselves popping out of windows; it's not a close fit to the Tommyverse but would have your choice of back door approaches.  That version of Batman might be proof of the Tommyverse, because actors kept changing, and some actors played more than one role (Van Johhson among them; Bruce Lee was always Kato)--exactly as it would be in someone with an imperfect memory.

[Kromm]

That explains something I've wondered about.  In one episode of "The Green Hornet", they watch an episode of the 1966 or so "Batman"; in other episodes, the Green Hornet and Kato meet Batman & Robin (in both cases, the Adam West/Burt Ward version.)  On "The Green Hornet" they might be watching a documentary, though.  It ties into "our" universe when on Batman, various guest stars play themselves popping out of windows; it's not a close fit to the Tommyverse but would have your choice of back door approaches.  That version of Batman might be proof of the Tommyverse, because actors kept changing, and some actors played more than one role (Van Johhson among them; Bruce Lee was always Kato)--exactly as it would be in someone with an imperfect memory.

I think the moment you introduce that inconsistency--that a person, place or thing is fictional in one episode and "real" in that world in another, you derail everything in terms of a Tommyverse tie-in. It's dead in the water. Sure, an explanation could be kludged together about documentaries, or that it's an Alison DuBois situation (a real person, who had a totally fictional show made about her), but I think you have to go too far outside the box to justify the tie-in. The Tommyverse stuff seems to be okay with implied tie-ins (like every person who smokes Morley Cigarettes being in the same universe), but that's different from actually having to invent a backstory to create the tie-in. The Morley Cigarette pack is self-explanatory. Or there's the case of the Picket Fences/X-Files crossover. That works because while you COULD create a whole backstory, you don't really HAVE to. Delta Glen, Wisconsin is a totally fictional place mentioned by both, and even the same events are referenced. You as the viewer don't actually have to invent anything else in your mind. But cobbling together some explanation for the idea that Batman & Robin are real, but it's also a fictional TV show? Too many hoops to jump through.

The thing with multiple actors playing the same role, on the other hand, is no big deal to me. It's not what people look like that matters, it's consistency in how the character is treated that matters most, IMO.

Edited August 27, 2014 by Kromm

[twotrey]

I actually got into the whole TV shared universe phenomenon *years* ago through many wasted hours reading this website as it grew over time: http://poobala.com/crossoverlist.html .  It doesn't appear to have been updated in a few years, but it offers a good starting point on distinct master groups/universes some shows fall into.

Edited September 1, 2014 by twotrey

[Kromm]

I actually got into the whole TV shared universe phenomenon *years* ago through many wasted hours reading this website as it grew over time: http://poobala.com/crossoverlist.html .  It doesn't appear to have been updated in a few years, but it offers a good starting point on distinct master groups/universes some shows fall into.

I'm not sure I really understand those groupings.  They don't all make sense to me, and I don't see where on the site there's any good explanation of them.  

[twotrey]

Admittedly it's not the most organized of sites, but the reasonings are laid out in the *many* pages describing the links between a given pair of shows.  Scroll down to "Crossover and Spin Off Alphabetical List" and those articles describing the links (both crossover/spinoff or not) between pairs are listed alphabetically, and it's from there that they were able to come up with the groupings.

[Kromm]

Tommyverse fans.... go support Heisler Beer as the KING OF DISPARATE TV THINGS MOUNTAIN.

 

http://previously.tv/television/the-thicky-trick-video-vs-heisler-beer/

[Rick Kitchen]

Let's Potato Chips are used in a ton of TV shows.

 

And there's a Wiki article about Hudson University.

Edited November 1, 2014 by Rick Kitchen

[merylinkid]

Dr. Huxtable went to Hudson U for med school.   Are we sure he is an Ob/Gyn wouldn't surgeon be a better concentration for a serial killer?

[Rick Kitchen]

Hudson University is used in a large number of TV shows, usually with characters who are lawbreakers (murderers, rapists, and everything in between.)

 

There is even a Wikipedia article about Hudson University.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_University#Blue_Bloods

 

Hudson University was mentioned on "Blue Bloods" on tonight's show (11/21/2014).  A student reported being raped, and the University tried to cover it up.

Edited November 23, 2014 by BizBuzz
Merged created topic with existing topic.

[Bruinsfan]

Someone should pitch a series about Hudson U where the whole thing was set up specifically to be staffed/attended exclusively by criminals and potential victims, kind of like how Sunnydale was founded on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

[Constantinople]

Rudy Giuliani played himself in both Seinfeld and Law & Order.

 

Does that count?

[Bruinsfan]

Dr. Huxtable went to Hudson U for med school.   Are we sure he is an Ob/Gyn wouldn't surgeon be a better concentration for a serial killer?

Ob/Gyn seems a tailor-made specialty for a doctor who's going to commit the sort of crimes Cosby himself is accused of, so maybe appropriate in his case... Law & Order: SVU uses Hudson University frequently, doesn't it?

[Raja]

. Law & Order: SVU uses Hudson University frequently, doesn't it?

After the first years of the L&O franchise they did use Columbia and NYU then turned to Hudson and Los Angeles University with a mix of UCLA and USC colors in the Los Angeles series.Hudson turned up on a recent Elementary also

[Kromm]

Wasn't the LA show only on for like... five minutes?  I'm surprised they even had time to invoke a fictional university.

[Cranberry]

Saw this Tumblr post today and thought of this thread! I know that Dexter is part of the Tommyverse, so now Parks and Rec, Pretty Little Liars, Scandal, and Revenge (which I didn't see on the big list) are, too.

[Kromm]

Saw this Tumblr post today and thought of this thread! I know that Dexter is part of the Tommyverse, so now Parks and Rec, Pretty Little Liars, Scandal, and Revenge (which I didn't see on the big list) are, too.

It's such a shame the Tommyverse list isn't maintained anymore.  I know it was a pain in the ass, and was in most ways a thankless task, but it was a fun thing to always refer back to.

 

The big problem was the diagram.  When it got hard to portray I think this crossoverman person just kind of gave up.  Arguably the diagram, as neat as it was, should have been abandoned and it just should have been a database where the connections between shows could be looked up (the way there used to be one for "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon", although I think that's gone too -- EDIT - Actually I was wrong about that last--the "Oracle of Bacon" now exists--it took the place of the IMDB function that used to do the same thing).

 

I will say the one big problem with that Tumblr post and it's conclusions is that this guy, even though he's playing a newscaster on all of these different shows, isn't evidentally playing the SAME newscaster on them.  I don't know what name is given for the newscaster on the shows (if he's even got one shown onscreen or spoken out loud), but what IS clear is that each show has him on a different news broadcast, for a different broadcaster (go back and look at the screenshots and you can see that from the logos onscreen and on his microphones). While in theory it could still be the same reporter bouncing between jobs fairly often, that really stretches credibility.  I mean knowing he has the same name might help, but even there we have the precedent of different fictionalized versions of the same real people guest appearing on different shows and thus NOT linking those shows.   

Edited April 8, 2015 by Kromm

[Raja]

The upcoming Sleepy Hollow/Bones crossover fills me with dread. I have a serious antipathy towards these two shows with such fundamentally different outlooks being forced together. They just shouldn't both exist in the same universe. The only crossover which would be acceptable to me is if they had a story where the Sleepy Hollow gang had a mission that took them to the filming of an episode of Bones and then a companion episode of Bones where Booth and the Jeffersonian gang had a case that took them to the filming of Sleepy Hollow.

I just heard about this one and it has to be just about the worst two shows to crossover ever considering the science versus supernatural world views of the shows.

[Twilight Man]

Hey folks!!!

 

Just dropping in to point out that the Tommyverse has just got a huge chunk added to it.

 

Disney Channel just did yet another mega-crossover event to tie their new shows

together into their DCLAU (Disney Channel Live Action Universe)

 

One of their (somewhat) new shows is Girl Meets World, which is a spinoff of the 1990's TGIF show Boy Meets World.

Girl Meets World crossed over with Austin & Ally..................
and Austin & Ally (at one point) crossed over with Jessie.......................................
and Jessie crossed over with, well, just about everybody (including Spider-man (seriously, that actually happened))
 

This page will tell you more about the DCLAU and how just about all of the shows,

from "Raven", "Wizards", and "Weasels",

to the shows that are on TV now tie into each other.

 

That now means that the DCLAU is now part of the Tommyverse
 

I find it somewhat disconcerting that Lt. Andy Sipowicz now exists in the same "reality" as Hanna Montana.

Edited October 11, 2015 by Twilight Man