X Meets Y/Live-Action TV

Serial storytelling meets Film:

Shows
(Roughly in Alphabetical Order)


 * 24 is Commando meets Dirty Harry meets The West Wing with more torture.
 * The A-Team was pitched as a cross between The Dirty Dozen and Mission Impossible,
 * Airwolf was The A-Team (or MacGyver or'Knight Rider if you prefer) in a helicopter.
 * American Horror Story is American Beauty meets The Shining.
 * Alias is James Bond meets Felicity.
 * Alphas is described by its creator as X Men meets The Wire.
 * Automan: Knight Rider meets Tron
 * Starsky and Hutch Meets Tron
 * Being Erica is Quantum Leap meets Peggy Sue Got Married.
 * The Big Bang Theory is Friends meets Revenge of the Nerds.
 * Blue Mountain State: Friday Night Lights meets Porkys meets Greek
 * Bosom Buddies was Laverne and Shirley meets Some Like It Hot.
 * The Brittas Empire is Fawlty Towers meets The Office.
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Joss Whedon refers to it as My So-Called Life meets The X-Files.
 * Burn Notice has been described as Miami Vice meets The A-Team meets MacGyver meets James Bond..
 * CSI is Law and Order meets Hollywood Science.
 * Campus PD (G4): Cops meets MTV's College Life
 * Castle is Moonlighting meets Murder She Wrote ("... having not really remembered Moonlighting and never seeing Murder She Wrote," says star Nathan Fillion.)
 *  Casualty 1909 has been described by one critic as "Cranford being overrun by zombies.".
 * Chefs vs. City: The Amazing Race meets Man V Food
 * Community could be described as Arrested Development meets Undeclared.
 * Criminal Minds is Without a Trace meets Saw
 * Crownies can be described as Law and Order Trial By Jury meets Greys Anatomy.
 * Crusade is Blakes Seven meets The Hobbit, set in the Babylon 5 universe.
 * The Daily Show: CNN Headline News meets Weekend Update.
 * Dance Moms (Lifetime) is Toddlers and Tiaras meets Bring It On.
 * Dance Your Ass Off is The Biggest Loser meets Dancing With the Stars. I'm guessing that's probably how they sold it, too.
 * Death Valley is Buffy meets Cops.
 * The Deep End is Scrubs meets Boston Legal
 * Drive (2007) was Lost meets Cannonball Run.
 * Since Lost was pitched to ABC as a scripted show reminiscent of Survivor, Drive could also be seen as the analogue to The Amazing Race.
 * Dual Survival is Survivorman meets The Odd Couple.
 * The Event was often called a combination of 24 and Lost.
 * Everybody Hates Chris is That 70s Show meets Malcolm in The Middle, only in the 80's.
 * Eureka is The Andy Griffith Show meets Dexters Laboratory.
 * Firefly is Blade Runner meets Cowboy Bebop.
 * Or Star Wars meets The Searchers meets The Grapes of Wrath
 * Food Tech (History Channel): Good Eats meets Dirty Jobs.
 * Fringe has been described as The X-Files meets Altered States meets The Twilight Zone meets Dark Angel
 * More like Eureka meets CSI meets Charlie Jade
 * Game of Thrones' TV adaptation: described by George RR Martin as "The Sopranos in Middle Earth."
 * Glee: Fame meets The Office (Or High School Musical meets The Office, for the younger set).
 * It could also be described as "Every Teen Show" meets Blackpool, and does it 1000X better.
 * Election meets High School Musical (plus Dawson Casting).
 * The Golden Girls: The original plan was for Rue McClanahan to be Rose and Betty White to be Blanche. Not only did the actresses feel better suited for the opposite characters, but Bea Arthur almost did not want to be involved for fear of the show only being "Maude and Vivian meet Sue Ann Nivens" (as White and McClanahan would resemble characters from their previous series).
 * Good Eats is a Science Show mixed with a Cooking Show -- or if you prefer specific show examples, Myth Busters meets Beakmans World meets Bill Nye the Science Guy mixed with Cooking with Science (the actual book series that inspired the show) mixed with Emeril Lagasse...
 * Heroes: X Men meets Lost.
 * Hogan's Heroes: The Great Escape meets the Sit Com formula.
 * The Hour: Described by one review as Drop the Dead Donkey meets Spooks
 * House is Sherlock Holmes meets ER with a tasty sprinkle (for those who know it) of Black Jack.
 * iCarly is Lizzie Mcguire meets YouTube, minus the animated counterpart.
 * Iron Chef Japan: Julia Child + Professional Wrestling.
 * JAG is A Few Good Men meets Top Gun.
 * Kamen Rider
 * Kamen Rider Ryuki: Mirai Nikki meets Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 * Kamen Rider Blade: Cardcaptor Sakura meets Kamen Rider
 * Kamen Rider Kiva: Twilight meets Kamen Rider
 * Kamen Rider Decade: Kingdom Hearts meets Kamen Rider
 * Kamen Rider Double: Film Noir Kamen Rider
 * Kamen Rider Fourze: Glee meets Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann meets Persona 4
 * The League of Gentlemen is Monty Python's Flying Circus meets Coronation Street meets the 1973 The Wicker Man meets Twin Peaks.
 * Leverage: Burn Notice meets Mission Impossible.
 * Alternately: Robin Hood meets Oceans Eleven
 * Life On Mars is The Sweeney meets the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
 * Lion Maru G is Garo meets Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo.
 * Lost: The Twilight Zone meets Gilligan's Island meets Lord of the Flies meets The Prisoner.
 * The writers were going for something more along the lines of Lord of the Flies meets The Stand.
 * The last season in particular is The Stand meets Jacobs Ladder meets Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom.
 * Lost in Austen: Life On Mars meets Pride and Prejudice.
 * Luther is Columbo meets Dirty Harry.
 * Man V Food is Diners, Drive-ins and Dives meets Competitive Eating.
 * Man Vs Fish: Man vs. Wild meets Bill Dance.
 * Manswers is Brainiac Science Abuse meets The Man Show.
 * Miami Vice was supposedly funded and the pilot produced after a brief meeting where it was described as "MTV Cops", with essentially no other details. This is true according to Brandon Tartikoff, who was the NBC executive that green-lighted the show.
 * Misfits is Heroes crossed with Skins
 * The Mighty Boosh is Monty Python's Flying Circus meets Flight of the Conchords, only on acid.
 * The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog is Power Rangers meets Irish mythology.
 * Myth Busters co-host Adam Savage once described the show as "Jackass meets Mr. Wizard".
 * NCIS: JAG meets CSI.
 * No Ordinary Family is The Incredibles meets Heroes
 * Nowhere Man is The X Files meets The Fugitive.
 * Forget X-Files! It's more like The Prisoner meets The Fugitive!
 * Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment: Survivor meets Survivorman.
 * One Way Out: David Blaine meets Jackass
 * Persons Unknown is Lost meets The Prisoner meets Survivors
 * Or alternatively, Twelve Little Indians meets Cube.
 * The Pretender is Quantum Leap meets The Fugitive.
 * Prison Break is The Bourne Series meets The Shawshank Redemption.
 * Or, alternatively, 24 meets Oz. The second season, however, is more like 24 meets The Fugitive.
 * The fourth season, on the other hand, is The Bourne Series meets MacGyver
 * The Prisoner: James Bond meets Samuel Beckett.
 * Pushing Daisies: Murder She Wrote meets Amelie.
 * QI is quiz bowl meets stand-up comedy.
 * Reaper is best described as Brimstone meets Clerks.
 * Repo Games: Cash Cab meets Operation Repo - Answer the repo man's questions correctly and you get to keep your car.
 * The River is Paranormal Activity meets Heart of Darkness, with a small dusting of Cannibal Holocaust as well.
 * Rizzoli and Isles is Bones meets Cagney and Lacey.
 * Word of God says: The Rockford Files meets Sex and The City.
 * Rookie Blue is Scrubs meets NYPD Blue.
 * Round the Twist: One TV plug described it as The Swiss Family Robinson meets The X Files.
 * Royal Pains: Burn Notice meets Northern Exposure.
 * Sanctuary would be Torchwood minus moral ambiguity and sex.
 * Saving Grace: Joan of Arcadia meets The Shield
 * Sea Quest DSV is Star Trek under WATER.
 * Slingers looks to be Hustle meets Firefly as directed by Wong Kar Wai
 * Skins is Parker Lewis Can't Lose meets Kids.
 * Smallville: Superman meets Dawsons Creek.
 * Sons of Anarchy is The Sopranos meets American Chopper.
 * Special Ops Mission (The Military Channel): Survivorman meets a Steven Segal movie.
 * Star Trek (TOS) itself was Horatio Hornblower meets The Outer Limits.
 * Star Trek Deep Space Nine is Star Trek meets Babylon 5.
 * Star Trek Voyager is Star Trek meets Battlestar Galactica (or alternatively, Lost in Space)
 * Stargate Universe: Stargate (more the movie than SG-1 or Atlantis) meets Battlestar Galactica 2005 meets The Last Starfighter meets Flight of the Phoenix meets Lost in Space.
 * Step By Step is The Brady Bunch meets The Odd Couple.
 * Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad is Ultraman meets Saved By the Bell.
 * Supernatural: Angel and The X Files meets The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Dukes of Hazzard and Star Wars.
 * Survivor was described by Mark Burnett in his companion book for the first season of the show as "Gilligans Island meets Ten Little Indians meets Lord of the Flies meets The Real World."
 * Terra Nova looked like it was Jurassic Park meets Avatar. Guess who suddenly showed up to explain "Terra Nova Rules"...
 * It could also be described as Decision at Doona meets Primeval.
 * Three Sheets: The Thirsty Traveler meets Insomniac With Dave Attell.
 * Tin Man is The Wizard of Oz meets Space Opera, but it's too much of a genuine Space Opera to be a mere Recycled in Space.
 * Torchwood, in series 1 at least, was often described as The X Files meets This Life. (Angel meets Queer As Folk would seem more accurate.)
 * The Vampire Diaries is Dawsons Creek meets Twilight and Scream.
 * Vintergatan is Scooby Doo meets Monty Python and The Holy Grail meets Star Trek.
 * The Voice is American Idol meets Dragons Den.
 * Warehouse 13 is Fringe meets Eureka with bits of Moonlighting.
 * Or, alternatively, Bones in the SCP Foundation instead of the Jeffersonian.
 * Weaponizers (Discovery): Junkyard Wars meets BattleBots meets Twisted Metal.
 * Weird Science is I Dreamof Jeannie meets Beavis and Butthead.
 * White Collar is 48 Hours meets Catch Me If You Can
 * Wilfred is Calvin and Hobbes meets Fight Club meets Harvey
 * 'The Young Ones: La Boheme meets Bottom.

Characters
(Roughly In Order by Last Name)


 * Cassie Ainsworth is basically Luna Lovegood with an eating disorder...on crack.
 * Freddie Benson is David "Gordo" Gordon meets Alto Saotome minus the Dude Looks Like a Lady tendancies.
 * Sheldon Cooper is Spock meets the Doctor meets Dexter meets Roger.
 * The Doctor: Dumbledore meets Indiana Jones meets Homestar meets Marquis de Carrabas meets Ace Rimmer meets Chuck Norris meets Crazy Awesome.
 * As well as Batman and Mr. Spock.
 * Yoda meets James Bond meets Space Gandalf.
 * Also Sherlock Holmes meets Zaphod Beeblebrox ramped Up to Eleven (literally!)
 * Davros: Adolf Hitler meets Stephen Hawking.
 * Don Draper is Jay Gatsby meets Jack Donaghy meets Lamont Cranston.
 * Captain Jack Harkness: Face meets Han Solo meets Agent Luxury in a Fetish Fuel Future.
 * Gregory House is Sherlock Holmes meets Perry Cox.
 * Captain H. M. "Howling Mad" Murdock is Jim Carrey meets Johnny Depp (retroactively, at least) and the Doctor.
 * Neal Caffrey is Faceman meets Frank Abagnale Jr.
 * Likewise, Peter Burke is Hannibal Smith meets Mal Reynolds meets Leroy Jethro Gibbs.
 * Tommy Oliver is a Shell Shocked Senior mixed with Becoming the Mask.
 * Mal Reynolds is Han Solo meets Jesse James.
 * Carly Shay is Lizzie Mcguire meets Ranka Lee.
 * Romana: Mr Darcy meets Jadzia Dax and Harriet Vane.
 * River Song is Lara Croft meets Catwoman meets The Time Travellers Wife.
 * Rory Williams is Shaggy meets Chuck Norris.
 * Dean Winchester: Face and Han Solo meet Bo Duke and an enormous puddle of angst.
 * Wilfred is Tyler Durden meets Hobbes and maybe part