Another example of overlapping TV universes would be the CBS programs Pickett Fences and Chicago Hope. Several of the characters in Pickett Fences had to go to nearby Chicago (PF is set in Rome, Wisconsin) and the Chicago Hope hospital in general. So PF and CH exist in the same universe. However, the other hospital drama set in Chicago, NBC's ER, doesn't exist in the same universe as NBC's Mad About You. During the episode of MAY when Jamie is having a "minor procedure" done at a local New York hospital, one of her doctors asks the other if he "saw ER last night," and then "Chicago Hope" as well. So if Jamie Buchman were walking down the street, she'd say "Oh, you're Mandy Patinkin" and not "Oh, you're Dr. Jeffrey Geiger!" MAY, of course, exists in the same universe as Friends, another NBC show. Jamie showed up at Friend's Central Perk restaurant. Phoebe's twin sister is the ditzy waitress that Paul and Jamie on MAY often have to put up with. Now, since Friends and MAY exist in the same universe, ER and Chicago Hope don't exist to the friends on Friends, either. If one of the Friends were to sit down and turn on the TV Thursday night at 10:00, they'd see ER on the TV. And if Dr. Green, on ER, were to turn on the TV at 8:00 that same night, he'd see Friends. But if Jamie, from MAY, were to turn on the TV at the same time, she wouldn't see Friends, she'd see something else, because to her, Friends is real--it's in her TV show's universe. Michael Richards (Cosmo Kramer) appeared on MAY, so MAY and Seinfeld are in the same universe. This means that MAY, Friends and Seinfeld are all in the same universe, which is not the same universe that ER and Chicago Hope exist in--shown by a comment on CH, "Do I look like George Clooney?" and not "Do I look like Dr. Doug Ross?"
Other examples exist as well. The Paramount/Fox/Sony program Married...With Children has been used to spin off three programs. (All failed.) Therefore, if anyone on MWC turned on the TV and watched Fox, they wouldn't have seen any of those three programs--to them, the people on those programs are real.
The Jeffersons TV show is a spin-off of All In The Family. So ditto the above paragraph, but with Jeffersons and AItF in the appropriate places.
Now let's look at this in some more detail. Take Patricia Kalember, who has starred on ABC's thirtysomething (Susannah) and NBC's Sisters (Georgie Reed Whitsig). In thirtysomething, she married Gary, had a baby, and after Gary died, she moved back to New York. On Sisters, she (apparently) has always lived in Winnetkia, a suburb of Chicago (a city which was mentioned in an episode of ER, very interesting, no?). Both her sons seem to be from her first and only husband, who she is now divorced from. So, with these facts in hand, we might be able to determine if one of the following is true: 1. thirtysomething and Sisters are not in the same TV universe, or 2. after Sisters ends (it's their last season), she moves to New York, changes her name, and then the events on thirtysomething happen to her. Now, upon closer inspection, I think we can remove #2 as an option. Sisters seems to be happening in "our" time. A recent episode of Sisters mentioned that Clinton is the President. Now, that means that Sisters takes place between 20 January 1993 and +8 years from that point. Several other events, not to be mentioned here, lead us to the belief that Sisters takes place within a month or so of the time that we watch it on TV, that is, our time/world and Sisters' time/world are one in the same. From certain events in thirtysomething, we know that it's time and our time were the same as well. For instance, take Ellyn's comment "Wow, it's weird being in a park without tear gas" in the first episode. Ok, maybe that doesn't narrow down the fact that she was in college in the 1960's, and she's thirtysomething now, forcing thirtysomething to be in the late 1980's, when it aired, but there are other examples, which won't be discussed here, that seem to point to the idea that thirtysomething took place around that time, 1987-1991.
Comparing the timelines for thirtysomething and Sisters, we see that the two shows could be in the same universe, but only if there are two people who look really, really, really like Patricia Kalember. After all, she can't be in Philadelphia, PA and Winnetkia, IL at the same time! It appears that the question "Do thirtysomething and Sisters exist in the same TV universe" can not be answered due to insufficient information. Yes, I realize this is hair-splitting to type that, and the true answer must be "no, they don't," but I'm a TV purist so I'll be picky on this one.
So now I have covered all three possibilities: programs that exist in the same universe (Mad About You, Friends), programs that don't exist in the same universe (Mad About You, ER), and programs that may or may not exist in the same universe (Sisters, thirtysomething).
Obviously, most programs fall into the last category. This is the most confusing one as well. Take the following example: on China Beach, Dana Delany played the role of Army Nurse LT (later CAPT) Colleen McMurphy, and Marg Helgenberger played the hooker K. C. Koloski. Now Miss Delany appeared on an episode of thirtysomething, playing a character named Eve. As we know from China Beach, McMurphy had quite a wild life after returning from Viet Nam, so it may be possible that she ended up in Philadelphia for a while. If so, it couldn't of been long, because she married (on China Beach) a character played by Adam Arken around the same time (+- two years?). Now Adam Arken is on Chicago Hope, but that's a whole different story all together. Christine Elise appeared on China Beach as Karen Lanier, K. C.'s daughter. Elise also appeared on ER, as med student Harper Tracy. Marg Helgenberger appeared on ER as well, as a friend of Dr. Doug Ross's dad, and later Dr. Ross himself. Now, could it be possible that all these people changed their names and moved to Chicago, putting ER and China Beach in the same universe!?! If Helgenberger and Elise bumped into each other in the emergency room, we'll know--they're mother and daughter on China Beach, so something should happen if they're the same on ER. Thinking about any ER and China Beach connection could drive anyone crazy, because several of the writers and producers for China Beach are now writers and producers for ER. Recently Boonie from China Beach appeared on ER as a semi-cowboy line-dancing kinda guy. He also does voice-overs for commercials. Be afraid, be very afraid. Actually, if you really want to feel creepy, Piper Laurie, who plays Dr. Doug Ross' mom on ER, also played Catherine Packard Martell on Twin Peaks. Now before searching for any ER/Twin Peaks connections, I suggest close psychological supervision. Trust me, I watched Twin Peaks every week.
I hope this little foray into the world of television has brought you some insights into how television programs have to deal the the "real" world around them, and how they deal with using the same actors in different programs. Happy universe hunting!
Sun Sep 2 21:42:28 EDT 2001