Whether it’s a desperate ploy for ratings or a genuine small-screen sensation, the crossover episode has been a staple of television for decades.
One of the earliest TV crossover episodes paired I Love Lucy with Adventures of Superman, with George Reeves reprising his iconic role as the Man of Steel alongside Lucille Ball. Since then, we’ve seen the Jetsons meet the Flintstones, Supernatural cross over with Scooby-Doo, and Family Matters show up on Full House. Today, though, we’ll be looking at some of the weirdest crossovers in TV history.
The worlds of Oahu, Hawaii, and Cabot Cove, Maine, couldn’t be more different, but that didn’t stop Thomas Magnum and Jessica Fletcher from crossing paths.
The story began on Magnum, P.I. with Novel Connection and concluded on Murder, She Wrote with Magnum on Ice. The plot finds Magnum wrongfully accused of murder, with Fletcher, who happens to be vacationing in Hawaii, stepping in to help clear his name.
As odd as it may be to see these two characters together, the pairing works surprisingly well. Magnum’s laid-back charm and street-smart instincts play nicely against Fletcher’s razor-sharp eye for detail, and the two have a fun, easy chemistry that makes the crossover more than just a gimmick. Honestly, it’s almost a shame it only happened once.
Cops is a documentary-style TV series that follows real-life law enforcement officers as they go about their jobs. The X-Files, as much as I might wish Mulder and Scully were real, is very much not that.
The episode, titled X-Cops, sees Mulder and Scully investigating a case that becomes entangled with the filming of an episode of Cops. Mulder initially believes they may be hunting a werewolf, but when witnesses to each attack describe wildly different monsters, the agents eventually realize they are dealing with an entity that takes the form of its victims’ worst fears.
The X-Files production brought in several crew members from the actual Cops series, which gives the episode a surprisingly authentic feel. In fact, Fox was apparently so concerned that audiences might mistake it for a real episode of Cops that the network insisted on including the usual X-Files opening and bumpers to make it clear what people were watching.
It’s a strange experiment, but it works shockingly well. The found-footage style gives the episode a raw, chaotic energy, while still letting Mulder and Scully do what they do best.
Much like The X-Files and Cops, this crossover involves two very different shows being slammed together, though this one may be even stranger on paper. Bones is a procedural crime drama about forensic anthropology, while Sleepy Hollow is a show where the Headless Horseman is not only real, but part of a much larger supernatural mythology leading to the end of days.
The two-part event kicks off on Bones, with Brennan and Booth investigating a case involving a 200-year-old headless corpse. They’re assisted by FBI agent Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane, and things get decidedly more supernatural in the follow-up episode of Sleepy Hollow, which involves a British general and his redcoats being raised from the dead.
Fan reaction was mixed, and even cast members from both series questioned whether the shows could actually fit together. But hey, sometimes you just have to strap in for some full-blown gothic nonsense and enjoy the chaos.
Mr. Robot is definitely not the type of show where you expect ‘ol Gordon Shumway to show up. Mr. Robot is a tense, paranoid psychological thriller about hackers, corporate corruption, mental illness, and the uneasy relationship between technology and control. ALF, on the other hand, is a family sitcom about a wisecracking alien puppet who crash-lands in suburbia and eats cats.
In the Mr. Robot episode eps2.4_m4ster-s1ave.aes, Elliot finds himself trapped in a surreal 1980s-style sitcom fantasy, complete with canned laughter, cheesy opening credits, exaggerated family-show performances, and, yes, an appearance from ALF himself.
Paul Fusco once again voices the character, and the result is funny, deeply unsettling, and completely unexpected. Hearing ALF crack jokes inside the world of Mr. Robot feels like someone left two TV sets running at the same time, and somehow, that’s exactly why it works.
I’m a huge Star Trek fan, as you can probably tell from some of my previous articles, but I was completely unaware of this bizarre crossover until fairly recently.
Webster starred Emmanuel Lewis as the title character, a young African American orphan taken in by his godfather, a retired football star, after his parents are killed in a car accident.
The crossover episode, titled Webtrek, finds Webster playing a video game on his computer when he is suddenly transported onto the bridge of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, where he meets Lt. Worf. What follows is essentially a flimsy excuse for a clip show, with Webster recalling memories of his family taking a helicopter tour of San Francisco, dancing with his Uncle Phil, pitching for his Little League team, and more, all while Worf sits patiently and listens.
Hearing a laugh track on the bridge of the Enterprise is strange enough, but do you know what’s even more bizarre? This wasn’t just a simple crossover episode or a clip show. It was the very last episode of Webster. Ever. That’s right. This is how the show decided to go out.