Television continues to produce endless entertainment for audiences. Television embraces eclectic storytelling genres, but sitcoms have always been one of the medium’s most evergreen sources of entertainment. Sitcoms attempt to establish their own styles and voices, but it’s always fascinating when worlds collide and characters spin off into other series.
There will occasionally be even more unlikely scenarios where separate TV series will link together, even if they’re not official crossovers. Audiences will be surprised to learn just how many of their favorite sitcom characters are actually neighbors to each other.
10 Two Sophisticated Barflies From Boston Show Up For A Commute
Wings And Frasier
Frasier Crane made enough of an impact on Cheers that he eventually received his own spin-off that would run for just as long as its predecessor. Wings was a 1990s sitcom that ran for eight seasons and focused on the everyday activities at a one-plane commuter service.
In season three, there's an unexpected appearance from Frasier and Lilith Crane, who are on their way to Nantucket to conduct a workshop. It's a fun showcase for Frasier and Lilith that removes them from their usual comfort zones, but the bigger revelation is that these worlds exist together.
9 Jerry’s Neighbor Has Business With A Surprising New York Player
Mad About You, Friends, And Seinfeld
Friends, Seinfeld, and Mad About You were three crucial pillars of NBC’s comedy line-up during the 1990s. A particularly fun connection exists between Friends and Mad About You where Phoebe’s sister, Ursula, is a waitress who regularly helps Mad About You’s characters.
Helen Hunt’s Jamie Buchman even shows up in a Friends episode, only to be perplexed by Phoebe’s un-Ursula-like behavior. However, there’s also an early Mad About You episode that reveals that Paul Buchman has been leasing his old bachelor pad apartment to none other than Kramer from Seinfeld.
8 Jess's Adventures Invade A Brooklyn Police Procedural
New Girl And Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The crossover situation between New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine has more to do with the fact that they were both FOX sitcoms at the same time, but it still leads to a fairly playful collision of characters. A two-part crossover begins on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and concludes in New Girl.
In the episodes, Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Jake commandeers a car from New Girl’s Jess and they wind up on a case together. There are also some entertaining antics as Boyle and his son, Nikolaj, mingle with Nick and Winston from New Girl. The convenient fact that Damon Wayans Jr. has played characters on both shows does not get addressed.
7 Sabrina's Magic Causes Chaos For Typical Teenagers
Sabrina The Teenage Witch And Boy Meets World
ABC's TGIF comedy block playfully indulged in crossovers and a synergy between its series. Fun cameos between shows would regularly occur, but one week embraced a thematic crossover where Salem and the magic of Sabrina The Teenage Witch alters the events of the rest of the TGIF block.
Salem swallows a "time ball" and You Wish, Teen Angel, and Boy Meets World are thrown into chaos while Salem attempts to fix the damage. In Boy Meets World, the cast is thrown back to the 1940s for a World War II-based story. In addition, Cory's older brother, Eric, happens to take Sabrina to a dance under more normal proceedings.
6 A Silly Joke Gets Pushed To Its Apex And Unites Disparate Worlds
Community And Cougar Town
Community truly pushes the boundaries when it comes to experimental and meta storytelling. There are elaborate gags in Community that take multiple seasons to fully pay off. One of the more extreme examples of this involves Abed’s obsession with Cougar Town.
Abed frequently refers to the TV show, including an event where he fills in as an extra on the series. Cougar Town goes the extra mile and pays off this joke with Abed in the background of a scene as this extra. Community returns the favor one last time and in the show’s season two finale, Travis and Laurie from Cougar Town show up to celebrate Greendale’s win.
5 A Major Meta Gag Results In An Inexplicable Crossover Experiment
Last Man Standing And Home Improvement
The final episode of Tim Allen's family sitcom, Home Improvement, aired in 1999. However, Allen's memorable Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor shows up more than two decades later in Allen's new family sitcom. Last Man Standing doesn't reinvent the wheel. Many of its stories revolve around Allen's patriarch of the house, Mike Baxter, waffling to his family’s ways.
The season nine episode, "Dual Time," has Mike hire Home Improvement's Tim Taylor to do some home repairs. It's a bizarre meeting of the minds since Mike and Tim look identical to each other, which Last Man Standing repeatedly references.
4 Holmes And Sam Rent Kat's Apartment
Welcome To Flatch And Call Me Kat
FOX has somewhat struggled to find a confident comedy line-up over the past few years and its current sitcoms, Welcome to Flatch and Call Me Kat, engage in some silly synergy to raise awareness for each other's shows. Holmes and Sam take a trip away from their sleepy town and experience the sights of Louisville, Kentucky as they rent Kat's apartment and enjoy her Cat Café.
Curiously, this crossover also technically fits into the world of FOX's The Masked Singer. Judge Robin Thicke makes an appearance in the "Call Me Flatch" crossover experiment.
3 A FOX Sitcom Mentions The Bluth Company
Arrested Development And Running Wilde
Arrested Development was lightning in a bottle television that’s been difficult to replicate. Running Wilde is an overlooked 13-episode sitcom that didn’t even get to air all of its episodes on FOX. The sitcom is created by Arrested Development’s Mitchell Hurwitz and reunites that sitcom’s stars, Will Arnett and David Cross, and even includes Jeffrey Tambor in a guest role as the father of Arnett’s character.
Running Wilde had the same fast-paced comedic sensibilities of Arrested Development, but the series also explicitly mentions the Bluth Company, which indicates they’re set in the same universe, despite the same actors being used in both series.
2 Charlie, Alan, And Jake Show Up In CSI
Two And A Half Men And CSI
It's become fairly commonplace for character crossovers to occur on television, but CBS series' Two and a Half Men and CSI pulled off an ambitious experiment where they traded writers. Two and a Half Men's "Fish in a Drawer" is written by CSI scribes and appropriately revolves around a death and its ensuing interrogation.
CSI's "Two and a Half Deaths" is written by Two and a Half Men masterminds. The procedural plot involves the death of a troublesome sitcom star. That being said, it also finds a spot for Charlie, Alan, and Jake to show up, too.
1 Ray And Doug Are Cut From The Same New York City Cloth
Everybody Loves Raymond And The King Of Queens
Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens were breakthrough sitcoms for CBS that collectively accumulated more than 400 episodes. Raymond sets up early on that Doug from The King of Queens is one of Ray Barone’s best friends and he’s frequently present among Ray’s group of friends.
Ray returns the favor and this Long Island resident shows up to visit his Queens-based friend several times across The King of Queens’ nine-season run. It’s easy to forget that these two shows exist together, even if their connections are so naturally handled.