Show Within a Show: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A fictional show that takes place within an actual show; or, occasionally, a fictional installment or incarnation of an actual show.

For the pre-television history of this trope, [[Zeroth Law of Trope Examples|once again]] we must go back to [[Shakespeare]], who featured plays within plays both in comedy; ''The Most Lamentable Comedy, and Most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisbe'' within ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', and ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' actually ''is'' one by means of a [[Framing Device]], and in tragedy (''The Murder of Gonzago'' within ''[[Hamlet]]'').

 

 

{{examples}}

== Examples of type 1 (characters involved in production) ==

* ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'': Haruhi and her subordinates film a [[Magical Girl]] movie for the [[School Festival]] with Mikuru and Yuki as the heroine and villain, respectively.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has a strip where Estonia makes a movie [[Character as Himself|starring Estonia (as Estonia), Russia (as Russia) and America (as America)]]. The credits are twelve minutes long (out of a twenty-one minute long movie) and posted to [[Bland-Name Product|Hetatube]].

* ''Gintaman'' in ''[[Gintama]]'', a self-parody within the story. Also ''Oshiete Gin-pachi Sensei'' and ''Kintama'' at the start and end of the regular episodes in different seasons.

* ''[[Haru wo Daiteita]]'' has the two main characters making a movie that actually gets spun off into its over OVA series called ''[[Winter Cicada]]''.

** ''Lucky Channel'' is also the name of the reader's column in the magazine ''[[Lucky Star]]'' serializes on.

* ''Kodomo no Omocha'' within ''[[Kodomo no Omocha]]''.

* The ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' movie, ''[[Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer|Gundam 00 a Wakening of The Trailblazer]]'', features a film based on the publicly-known exploits of Celestial Being in years past. As is par for the course, it is grossly inaccurate and features a number of anime and Hollywood cliches.

* In what is likely a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Lucky Star]]'', a few episodes of ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'' have the characters taking comments from viewers and behaving like actors/tv presenters. In one instance, it's referred to as "Zetsubou Channel".

* ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' has HeroTV, a combination news-[[Reality TV]] show that focuses on the exploits of Sternbild's various corporate-sponsored [[superhero]]es.

* ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'' has Tsubomi and Erika discover the ''banchou''-type character Ban is making manga. Manga of ''them''. They give him a hand in completing the pages he'd drawn and even help him finish the story he was stuck on by acting out an ending. It's also a Type 3, as Ban's afraid to reveal this to his mother, who grew up without manga and felt that if she knew, she'd hate him.

** ''Are We Live?'' a variety show hosted by the 765Pro Idols.

** ''Muujin Gattai Kisaragi'', a movie starring the 765Pro Idols.

 

* Johnny C., the crazy main character of ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'', draws a comic book that is the next "level" of insanity: ''[[Talkative Loons|Happy Noodle Boy]]''.

* The ''[[Captain Underpants]]'' books frequently feature comics based on the title character created by George Beard and Harold Hutchins. Almost every book begins with George and Harold presenting a comic providing exposition on the series up to that point. The ''Super Diaper Baby'' spinoff books have the ''entire books'' in the same comic format.

* ''[[Watchmen]]'' includes excerpts from the autobiography of one of the characters, as well as interviews with various others. ''[[Watchmen]]'' also includes the meta-comic ''Tales of the Black Freighter'' which is drawn by an artist who is [[Chekhov MIA|missing throughout the story]].

* Bolivar Trask's sci-fi pulp series ''The Sentinels'' in ''X-Men Noir''. For bonus points, the original series featured chapters from ''The Sentinels'' as back-ups. ''Punisher Noir'', meanwhile, has Frank Castelione, Jr.'s favorite radio drama, ''The Punisher''. ''Iron Man Noir'' has ''Marvels: A Magazine of Men's Adventure'', a pulp magazine featuring the (heavily fictionalized) exploits of Tony Stark as written by his friend Virgil Munsey and, later, Pepper Potts.

 

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series]]'', Bakura and Zorc star in a sitcom called ''Zorc and Pals''. And don't forget ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody|The Suite Life of Zorc and Cody]]''.

** Also the brief appearance of ''Kill Your Family''.

 

* The Disney film ''[[Bolt]]''.

** It's a complete film-within-a-film made by [[Joe Dante]] of ''[[Gremlins]]'' fame. See it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y2Lbhwl23M here] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT8hzyE_CRI here].

* The film version of ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'' has the Players acting out ''Hamlet'' for the title characters, while acting out ''The Murder of Gonzago'' with puppets who are themselves acting out the play-within-a-play with finger puppets. A show within a show within a show within a show.

* ''[[Kiss Me Kate]]''

* ''[[Noises Off]]'' probably has the highest ratio of Show Within A Show to, well, show in the history of film.

* ''The Running Man'' TV show is the setting of most of ''[[The Running Man (film)|The Running Man]]'' film.

* ''[[Moulin Rouge]]'' is a musical movie depicting a stage performance of a movie about a man singing about a man writing the story of his involvement in a musical about a man whose involvement in a musical mirrors the writer's. Honestly.

* The film version of ''[[Bewitched (film)|Bewitched]]'' is about a remake of the original TV series and the people in it—one of whom is an actual witch.

* The fictional ''Galaxy Quest'' TV show in the real movie ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' falls under each type of this trope, including Type 1; the film centers on the washed up cast members of the show.

* ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' has both Lewis Prothero's and Gordon Deitrich's shows, the former being the Voice of London, a part of the facist regime controlling the city, and the latter being a comedy [[Sketch Show]].

* Porn movie ''Fly Girls'' is about the guerilla shooting of a porn film on a plane. The actors and actresses all play parodies of themselves. It's actually really funny.

* ''[[RoboCop]]'' has two:

** One an action show about a lawman, ''T.J. Lazer'', which is the favorite show of Murphy's son.

* ''[[Forgetting Sarah Marshall]]'' where Sarah is the star of Crime Scene - Scene of the Crime. Jason Segel's character also writes music for the show.

* The ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'' movies have their own movies-within-a-movie, "Stab," which first arrived in [[Scream]] 2 as a [[Plot Parallel|fictionalized account of the events of the first movie.]] [[Scream]] 3 takes place largely on the set of "Stab 3."

 

* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Golden Age]]'', Daphne is competing in a dream universe competition with a romantic, fairy-tale universe. Her [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] leads to her being surprised at getting high points for external relevance.

* In Matthew Dicks's ''Something is Missing'', the protagonist, {{spoiler|a career burglar who finds himself moved to help his victims after helping himself to their possessions}}, begins writing a novel about a character with a similar vocation to his own. (If Dicks himself were such a {{spoiler|burglar}}, the recursion would have been perfect.)

* In ''Rodrigo y el libro sin final'' (''Rodrigo and the unfinished book''), the titular character, a nine-year-old boy, helps a novelist suffering from writer's block to find an ending for a book he borrowed from the library. This is also an example of Types Three (because the story revolves around this) Four, because some events in that book (which tells the story of a pirate who reaches old age) can be put in parallel with the writer's own life.

* There are several in the ''[[Discworld]]'' series: ''Moving Pictures'' has a large number of snippets/scenes from the "clicks" (movies) being produced, most of which parody either specific films or film genres; ''Wyrd Sisters'' features a Macbeth-like play and a Macbeth-like plot; ''Maskerade'' does much the same with Phantom of the Opera; and ''The Fifth Elephant'' frequently alludes to an opera about the semi-mythical founders of the dwarven kingdoms.

 

* The Bluth family takes part in a mock trial during the aptly named ''Mock Trial with J. Reinhold'' in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''.

* ''Sports Night'' within ''[[Sports Night]]''.

* ''FYI'' within ''[[Murphy Brown]]''.

* ''The Alan Brady Show'' within ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]''.

* ''The WJM Six O'Clock News'' (and also ''The Happy Homemaker'') within ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]''.

* ''Vermont Today'' within ''[[Newhart]]''.

* Ricky Ricardo's band stage shows in ''[[I Love Lucy]]''.

* ''Silverstone'' within ''[[The Famous Jett Jackson]]''.

* ''Coming Attractions'' on ''[[The Critic]]''.

* Some shows are set in a radio station, and have ''multiple'' shows on the schedule.

** ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]''—It's a music station, so all the "shows" are DJ patter.

** Larry's show on ''Hello Larry''.

* ''[[You Can't Do That on Television]]'' has a show-within-a-show that shares the same title.

* ''[[The Red Green Show]]'' is framed as a men's advice and magazine show, with the men of Possum Lodge offering "helpful" advice, only to usually end up with disastrous results.

* [[Reality Show]] example: The eponymous show of ''[[I Survived a Japanese Gameshow]]'' is given its own title, ''Hai! Majide'', pretty much just for effect.

* ''[[Glass Mask]]'' is a series about acting, so naturally includes a large number of these, some real plays, some created for the story (and one created for the story which was later turned into a Noh play of its own). Also includes a performance of ''A Midsummer's Night Dream'', so technically includes an example of a show within a show within a show.

* [[Wild Palms]]: The ''Church Windows'' show Codie plays in.

* The first series of ''[[French and Saunders (TV)|French and Saunders]]'' followed the (fictional) unbelieveably low-budget cringey 'French & Saunders Show' that consisted of frequent [[Epic Fail|epic fails]].

** "Troy and Abed in the Morning" on '[[Community]] is an example, and subversion of, Type 1 in that it doesn't actually exist.

* [[Slings and Arrows]] is about the actors and production personnel at a Canadian Shakespeare festival. Each season they put on a different play ([[Hamlet]], [[Macbeth]], and [[King Lear]]), and the themes of the play [[Plot Parallel|relate back to]] the main backstage plots.

* GSN (formerly Game Show Network) briefly had a series called "Burt Luddin's Love Buffet" which was a real relationship game show (much like "The Newlywed Game") which after each segment, would go backstage to show host Luddin (played by John Cervenka) talking to his jaded, often highly sarcastic staff...it didn't last too long.

* [[My Name Is Earl]] had Estrada Or Nada, a game show where contestants could challenge Erik Estrada to any talent. Knife-throwing, ventriloquism, and "bendy singing" are just a few. Overlaps with Type 3.

* In season 4’s "War Stories" of ''[[JAG]]'', Admiral Chegwidden while on leave gets persuaded by a Hollywood producer to act as technical advisor on the movie “Fields of Gold” which is a navy-themed action adventure with a court-martial. Chegwidden is a [[Fish Out of Water]] as the [[This Is Reality|“real navy”]] differs quite a lot from the [[Self-Parody|“reel navy”]], and [[Hilarity Ensues]].

 

* ''The Muppet Show'' on ''[[The Muppet Show]]''.

* ''Dog City'' (the cartoon) in ''[[Dog City]]''.

 

* The numerous parody serials put on—in every sense of the word—by radio satirists [[Bob and Ray|Bob & Ray]], as part of their own radio programs. The duo went so far as to invent fictional writers, producers, announcers and cast members, all of whom would frequently argue amongst themselves in the course of an episode.

* Kids' Radio and BTV on ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]''.

* The radio series of [[The Mighty Boosh]] briefly features ''Colobos the Crab'', a televesion program of which Vince appears to be a fan, although the content is left both vauge and suitably absurd.

 

* Shakespeare's work contains quite a bit of meta musing on theater, which takes the form of Show Within A Show several times.

** ''The Murder of Gonzago'' in ''[[Hamlet]]'', which overlaps with type 4 (a bit more about it there).

** The plays in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' and ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]''.

* The play (and later movie) ''Deathtrap'' centers around a fictional play of the same name.

* ''[[The Drowsy Chaperone]]''. The [[The Narrator|Man in Chair]] does a significant amount of [[Lampshade Hanging]], though.

* ''Me and Juliet'': the show within a show is also called ''Me and Juliet''.

* The abysmally bad ''[[Springtime for Hitler]]'' is the entire foundation of ''[[The Producers]]''.

* Opera within an opera: Richard Strauss's ''Ariadne auf Naxos'', in its first act, has "the richest man in Vienna" commissioning two after-dinner entertainments: a serious, dramatic opera, and a light musical comedy. Shortly before the first is about to begin, the majordomo arrives and informs the two companies that their sponsor has changed his mind: the two are to be performed simultaneously. The second act is the resulting production.

* Anthony Shaffer's play ''Whodunnit'' opens it as a bad/obviously satirical parody of an [[Agatha Christie]] type mystery (it seems to draw from Christie's ''Cards on the Table''), before revealing that it's actually a play being put on by the characters, who are often very different from their "stage roles".

 

* ''[[GTA Radio]]'' in the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games.

* In the ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'' series for the Playstation, Clank comes to star in a ''[[James Bond]]''-like series called ''Secret Agent Clank''. (Ratchet is consigned to the role of Agent Clank's bumbling chauffeur, to his annoyance.) In the appropriately titled PSP game ''Secret Agent Clank'', Clank actually assumes his television identity to help clear Ratchet when the latter is framed for a crime.

* ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' has Rosalina tell a very sad story about a young girl having to deal with the loss of her family. The girl in the storybook is actually Rosalina herself.

 

* The Cheat of ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' stars in a parody of ''G.I. Joe'' called ''Cheat Commandos''. Also, another character, Stinkoman, has his own anime series.

** The Strong Bad E-Mails is also a type of show, with Strong Bad giving it a changing opening theme and referring to it as his "E-Mail Show." Also there was The King of Town's Very Own Quite Popular Cartoon Show.

** ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' also has ''Teen Girl Squad'', an "indie comic" about four "teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 19" dying in humorous ways, crudely drawn and voiced by Strong Bad.

 

* ''[[Don't Look It Sucks]]'' features ''Star Dork'' a fictional Sci-Fi series enjoyed by some of the comic's cast.

* ''[[Last Res0rt]]'' features the reality show of the same name, crossing ''Survivor'' with ''[[Battle Royale]]'' and inadvertently setting up a plot that resembles [[Professional Wrestling]] moreso than anything else.

* The ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' interlude ''City Face'' is implied via [[Fridge Logic]] to be fictional within the Gunnerverse.<ref>[[Word of God|Tom Siddell said]] that ''City Face'' is [[Canon]], but [[The Rant]] and the [[Shout Box]] portray the ''City Face'' characters as [[Animated Actors]] (while nothing of the sort was implied regarding the events of the main comic).</ref>

* In the beginning, ''[[Ansem Retort]]'' was mostly focused on its status as a webcomic about a reality show filled with [[jerkass]]es and [[cloudcuckoolander]]s who were all addicted to at least 3 illegal drugs each. [[Cerebus Syndrome]] has kicked in a bit as the series goes on and things get more serious (well, as serious as that freak show gets, anyway), but they still bring up things like ratings, and in fact often let events occur because they wouldn't have a plot for the next season otherwise.

* ''[[A Tale of Fiction]]'' features "Bison and the Boar Boys", a comic with no bearing at all to the main plot (as of yet) and no connection to the characters, but which can nevertheless be accessed from one of the characters' laptops ("dragbook"). Also available on the dragbook is an in-universe blog called "I Am Not Fiction". Only Bison and the Boar Boys is regularly updated as of now, although I Am Not Fiction is likely to soon follow suit.

* ''[[1/0]]'' had "Max's World", a short comic created by Max to illustrate to Marcus what a comic strip is. Since the strip itself (1/0) is about metaphysical issues and the nature of reality, the comic strip characters creating a comic strip may also be an example of [[Recursive Reality]]. "Max's World" doesn't last long, though, since the 1/0 characters get jealous of the girlfriend Max drew for his main character and squash him with an anvil in the next panel.

* ''[[Zombie Ranch]]'' is not only the name of the comic but the name of the in-universe [[Reality TV|Reality TV Show]] being filmed [[Who Would Want to Watch Us?|about the characters' lives]]. The comic occasionally cuts between the "live" recordings and what seem to be more produced segments being aired sometime in the future.

 

* Minor character Lakitu is the news anchor for ''Mushroom Kingdom News'', a news show in ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]''. This also falls under type 3.

* ''[[Echo Chamber]]'', the [[TV Tropes]] vlog about tropes. The audience never sees the finished vlog; we only see the "making of" aspect.

 

* The ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "Ptv" featured a number of homemade shows on his pirate tv station, including ''Midnight Q'' starring Glen Quagmire and Peter Griffin's own ''[[Sideboob|The Sideboob Hour]]''

* ''Lily Mu'' within ''[[Kappa Mikey]]''.

{{quote|'''Jay:''' And if you ever want to visit ''my'' show --

'''Bart:''' Nah, we're not going to be doing that. }}

* ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' takes this to [[Mind Screw]] levels. Even now fans are utterly confused as to what's part of the show and what's part of the Show Within A Show. Made even more confusing by the fact that the Show Within A Show shares the exact same name as the show itself.

** A simpler example would be the gossip network, ''Celebrity Manhunt'' which dishes out information about the contestants of Total Drama and ''Total Drama Aftermath'' which was hosted by Geoff and Bridgette during ''Action''.

 

== Examples of type 2 (characters are fans) ==

** In the gag dub, it is called ''Action Bastard''

** He also likes to watch ''Quantum Robot''

* ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]]'' within ''[[Genshiken]]'' (which eventually spun off as its own show).

* An "anime within an anime", the fictional anime series ''Liddo-kun no Daibouken'' (and the stuffed Liddo-kun toy owned by Naru) figures significantly into ''[[Love Hina]]''.

** ''Nadesico'' also flirts with the first variety with ''Magical Princess Natural Lychee'', for which one of the characters is a voice actress.

** An [[Abridged Series]] replaced ''[[Gekiganger 3]]'' with ''Gekiganger 3: The Abridged Series''. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

** ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' within ''[[Gekiganger 3]]'', but only in the [[Recap Episode]] of ''Nadesico''... ow, my head.

* ''Detective Kunkun'' within ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' (may actually fall into the "eerily similar" category in some respects, as it's a puppet-based show watched by the Rozen Maiden dolls, who are convinced it is reality). The irony of the characters watching a dark and edgy cartoon involving dolls [[Lampshade Hanging|does not go unnoticed]].

* ''[[School Rumble]]'' has ''The Three Slashed'' and ''Hatenkou Robo Dojibiron''.

** Also, in Mihoshi's first appearance, she is watching an alien [[Boke and Tsukkomi Routine]].

* ''Sensei and Ninomiya-kun'', the soap opera that the Minami sisters watch in ''[[Minami-ke]]''.

* In ''[[Penguin Musume Heart]]'', Sakura is a fangirl of the Sunday morning [[Magical Girl]] show ''Takenoko-chan''. That Kujira looks like the main character is partially responsible for Sakura starting her crazy antics.

* The bizarre ''Binkan Salaryman'' in the even more bizarre ''[[Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan|Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan]]''.

* ''Mahou Shoujo Biblion'', a [[Magical Girl Warrior]] series in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', which the series's own [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]] often dresses as.

** The story of The Prince and The Raven guides the characters both thematically ''and'', in some cases, literally. It exists as both a living narrative and an actual novel that various characters read.

* ''[[Hidamari Sketch]]'' has ''Fashionable Detective Lovely Chocolat'' in its anime version.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' features the ''Sailor V'' franchise, which started out as a video game Artemis came up with to train Minako in ''[[Codename: Sailor V]]''. The kicker is that Sailor V is a real person, but apparently has shows and merchandising anyway that she clearly has nothing to do with. The show itself is never seen, but an entire episode of the first season of ''Sailor Moon'' features the production studio for ''Sailor V'' and was basically an excuse for the entire Sailor Moon animation studio making fun of themselves.

** This may be subverted and parodied in the live action ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'', where Minako (Sailor V) is a recording superstar and media juggernaut who apparently creates all her own promotional campaigns.

*** It's definitely parodied. Minako's current hit song in the series is "C'est La Vie", which is phonetically identical to "Sailor V" in Japanese. It comes off an album entitled "Venus", and includes lines like "As long as I am me, C'est la vie". Another song off the same album is named "Venus Over My Shoulder".

* ''[[Ladies versus Butlers!]]'' has ''Magical Diva'', a [[Magical Girl]] who solves problems with violence and her trusty hammer.

* Most of the ''real'' kids in ''[[Detective Conan]]'' are fans of ''Kamen Yaiba'', a [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]] version of ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' (which takes the name "[[Yaiba]]" from another of the Conan mangaka's works). A number of times, Conan & company solve mysteries at sets, stunt shows, production offices, or production studios associated with the franchise (and in one case at a costume party where cosplayers showed up in intricate Kamen Yaiba outfits).

 

* In the comic book ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'', the characters watched a TV show called ''Wendy the Werewolf Stalker'', a parody of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.

* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' has ''Tales of the Black Freighter'', a comic book told almost in its entirety within the graphic novel. Its author shows up in a couple scenes, and it ends up eerily paralleling a certain character's fate.

* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]].'' comic books, Mario is a huge fan of comic-book-within-a-comic-book ''Dirk Drain-Head'', which is hated by the other good guys (including Luigi, who ironically looks exactly like Dirk), but loved also by Bowser's minions.

* One issue of ''[[Hack Slash]]'' has Cassie and Vlad battling a slasher at a comic book convention; needless to say, there are a few comics within the comic.

* ''Justice Girl'' is a comic within a comic in ''[[The Maze Agency]]'' (and, in universe, spawned a short-lived TV series). jen was a huge fan of ''Justice Girl'' when she was younger.

 

* Several in ''[[Aeon Natum Engel]]'':

** ''[[Question Time]]'' with [[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri|Alpha Centauri]] leaders who speak mostly with their game quotes.

** [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]-type show ''T for Tangency''.

* ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero]]'' has a ''[[Trope-tan]]'' anime and movie, with shades of Type 3 and possibly 4 mixed in as well.

 

* ''[[Cars 2]]'' has ''The Mel Dorado Show'', which is a talk show hosted by a brown Cadillac who for some reason wears glasses over his windshield (eyes) and ''Tire Talky'', a Japanese talk show sponsored by a purple truck who constantly carries a giant Jumbotron on his trailer (the episode shown on the truck's screen is one where Francesco Bernoulli is shown demonstrating his soccer skills in front of the show's host (a Scion XB)).

* In ''[[Idiocracy]]'', the idiotic populace of 2505 watches ''Ow, My Balls'', which is one [[Groin Attack]] after another. We see the unfortunate star of the show twice during the movie (other than in his show), and on both occasions, he suffers very painful "tributes" from fans who attempt to emulate the show.

* In ''[[Hairspray]]'', Tracy and Penny are huge fans of the Corny Collins Show, a regional American Bandstand-type show. This overlaps with Type 1 when Tracy gets a part on the show and supports Corny's dreams of integrating the show(instead of only permitting black performers to appear on "Negro Day").

* In the film version of ''[[Matilda (film)|Matilda]]'', Matilda's family is a huge fan of ''Million Dollar Sticky'', a game show hosted by (or whose host is played by) Jon Lovitz, where contestants are painted with honey and then invited to roll around in money. Whatever cash sticks to them they get to keep.

* The plot of the film ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' involves certain "fans" of the show, namely a race of aliens who erroneously believe the show is real and worship the characters as heroes. Incidentally, the actions of said aliens are also what cause the film to fall under the other three types of this trope.

** The film also has a couple of traditional fanboy types. {{spoiler|They later turn out to be [[Chekhov's Gunman|Chekhov's Gunmen]]}}

 

* The story of Kelly Link's award-winning novella, ''[[Magic for Beginners]]'', describes one episode of an unnamed (presumably) television series about an ordinary boy named Jeremy Mars and his circle of friends, who are obsessively devoted to a pirate-television fantasy series called ''The Library''. This show-within-a-show is broadcast irregularly on the otherwise "snowy" channels. Each episode is portrayed by different, non-credited actors and features advertisements for non-existent products. Much of the plot involves the actions and resulting interactions between the two shows.

** As a child, Miles Vorkosigan was a big fan of a holovid action/drama serial about Lord Vorthalia the Bold, Legendary Hero from the Time of Isolation. As an adult, he can remember most of the 9 verses of the theme song. It's likely that he picked up some of his [[Knight Errant]] tendencies from this.

** Avoiding type 1, a Marilacan production company attempted to hire [[Secret Identity|Admiral Naismith]] as an consultant for a holovid docudrama about the [[Great Escape|Dagoola IV breakout]]. For security reasons, Miles declined to participate.

** Nikolai Vorsoisson is fond of holovids featuring Captain Vortalon, a jump pilot who has galactic adventures with Prince Xav, smuggling arms to the Resistance during the Cetagandan invasion.

** Beta Colony produced a film based on the Escobaran War and Cordelia Naismith's role in it called ''The Thin Blue Line''. Their portrayal of Prince Serg upsets Elena Bothari, because most Barrayarans view Prince Serg as a [[Heroic Sacrifice|hero]], not as a [[The Caligula|Caligula]].

 

* ''The Valley'' within ''[[The OC]]''.

* ''Rebo and Zooty'' and ''ISN News'' on ''[[Babylon 5]]''.

* ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' had ''Androids'', a soap opera about robots.

* ''[[Married... with Children]]'': Al Bundy is a big fan of ''Psycho Dad'', and even went so far as to travel to Washington D.C. to complain to Congress when [[Straw Feminist|Marcy]] had it cancelled.

* In the ''[[Angel]]'' episode "Birthday", Cordelia is shown an [[Alternate Timeline]] where she didn't meet Angel and has her own TV show, the ''[[Friends]]''-a-like ''Cordy''.

** Also, the kids' puppet show ''Smile Time'' in the episode of the same name.

* On ''[[Oz]],'' the prisoners are often shown watching ''Miss Sally's Schoolyard'' and lusting after the buxom children's show host. Also a type 3 in that stalking the buxom show host is why Busmalis {{spoiler|gets caught and returned to Oz after an escape attempt.}}

* ''Tides of the Heart'' was a soap opera that was originally just watched by the characters on ''[[Shortland Street]]'', at least until it was revealed that a character who had previously been [[Put on a Bus]] was now the star of the show. The aforementioned character's best friend eventually received a gig on the show as a writer, though this all occurred offscreen.

* Every episode of ''[[Twitch City]]'' was titled after that episode's subject of ''The Rex Reilly Show'', a [[Take That]] on Jerry Springer that shows up at least in a short promotional.

* The residents of ''[[Brookside]]'' would often watch ''The Magic Rabbits''.

* On ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', ''[[The Wedding Bride]]''. The other characters in the show (other than Ted) are fans of the movie. This is also an example of Type 1 and 3 as it was made by a character in the show and it is a plot point.

** Since it's a twisted version of what actually happened to Ted, it's also an example of type 4!

 

* ''Wiz-O-Mania'' in ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]''.

** The [[Crowning Moment of Funny]] comes when he puts on the record for Act II, and it turns out to be the record for an ''entirely different show.''

 

* Travis Touchdown's favorite anime in ''[[No More Heroes]]'' is ''Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly'', which appears to be a [[Magical Girl]] Mecha series. We never see the show itself, but he has a T-shirt with the main characters on it (and more can be bought), there are posters of it all over his motel room (including one that he presses to and sighs, ''[[Moe Moe|Moe~]]''), he seems to have stolen his [[Calling Your Attacks|attack names]] from it, and he plays an upward-scrolling [[Shoot'Em Up|SHMUP]] based on the series to pass the time on the subway on his way to one of the game's boss encounters.

** Suda51 has expressed a little interest in [[Defictionalization]] of the show if the opportunity comes up. Presumably it would be a scathing parody of anime tropes... or just plain [[Mind Screw]]. Or both.

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'', Ryusei Date is fan of mech simulator game call ''Burning PT'', which is actally used by military to recuit pilot. It's only mention in dialogue and players never actually see the game until anime adaption of [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]] though. In the end of Super Robot Wars Original Generation Gaiden, he end up watching his favourite anime ''Banblade'' with his [[Unwanted Harem]], but players never actally see how the anime look like. Also in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3, he give [[Macross 7|Mylene Jenius]] a rare copy of ''[[Super Dimension Fortress Macross]] : Legend of Lyn Minmei'' as birthday present.

* Some of the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' games have a number of different (all rather raunchy) shows that the player can watch.

 

* In the Flash series ''[[Banana-nana-Ninja!]]'', "''[[Punny Name|Kikyotushi]]: The Suburban Ninja''" is a live-action show about a guy who dresses like a ninja and kills people on the street in [[Candid Camera Prank]] fashion.

 

* In ''[[Cucumber Quest]]'': The TV Show ''Punisher Pumice''. Little is shown about it, but we know that Almond is a [[Fan Girl]].

* In the webcomic ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', the characters are fans of the ''Lucky Bunny Bounty Show''.

* ''[[Girly]]'' features ''Action Up The Butt'', which is what happens when you take the concept of Highlander (where killing someone gives you their power), make all the characters 19th century authors (with Sir Walter Scott as the main character), then give them all guns. It was [[Too Good to Last]], though; it was cancelled after the second season.

{{quote|'''[[Mark Twain]]:''' So, you've heard those rumours about me, have you?

'''[[Mark Twain]]:''' That's always been your problem, Sir Walter Scott. You never wanted to believe anything. And now, there will be rumours about you. Specifically, your death. [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner|And they will NOT be exaggerated!]] }}

 

* ''Magical Princess Sailor Rose Wand'' (the exact name varies from use to use) in ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'', a [[Anvilicious|thinly-veiled]] spoof of ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' that apparently crams ''even more'' [[Magical Girl]] tropes than the original (which, apparently, doesn't exist in the Sailor Nothingverse). Used to constantly compare [[This Is Reality|"reality"]] to [[You Watch Too Much X|TV]].

** Oddly enough, at one point, footage of the "real" magical girls is mistaken for footage from the anime. This [[Fridge Logic|makes very little sense]] unless there's a ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]]'' analogue.

 

* ''Sick Sad World'' within ''[[Daria]]''.

* The hilariously over-the-top ''Los Dias y Las Noches de Monsignor Martinez'' on ''[[King of the Hill]]''.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''

** ''[[The Itchy and Scratchy Show]]'', which is a segment of the ''Krusty the Klown'' show, making it a show within a show ''within'' a show. Further yet, a Type One within a Type Two.

** Also a regular Type I for the episode where Lisa suggested a new character be added and Homer ended up voicing the new character.

* ''All My Circuits'' within ''[[Futurama]]''. This becomes something of the reverse of the above case when show star Calculon intermittently becomes involved in the main protagonists' lives. ''Futurama'' also had the Twilight-Zone-style ''The Scary Door'', and ''Everybody Loves Hypnotoad'', a full episode of which was included as a DVD featALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD.

** Also ''[[Russell Crowe]]'s Fightin' Round the World'', though just for one episode, and the boys were only watching it for the movie trailer that came at the end.

* ''Teen Canyon'' within ''[[The Weekenders]]''.

* The Quahog local news on ''[[Family Guy]]''.

* ''The Brown Hornet'' cartoon on ''[[Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids]]''.

* ''Hospital of Horrors'', described a few times by the cast of ''[[Code Lyoko]]''. Though never shown on-screen, it sounds like a mix of [[Medical Drama]] and cheesy horror B-movies.

* ''[[Rugrats]]'' featured several. ''Reptar'' (an [[Expy]] of ''[[Godzilla]]'') was the most prominent.

* ''Adventures of Bionic Bunny'' and ''Mary Moo Cow'' in the ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'' cartoon.

* Though we never actually see the show in question, ''[[The Mighty Ducks (animation)|The Mighty Ducks]]: The Animated Series'' had a recurring gag involving the fictional Bernie the Bear, and arguments as to whether a character who drove a car and wore a watch could be considered a bear. Arguments being made by a pair of anthropomorphic ducks.

* ''The Misadventures of Mighty Plumber'' in ''[[Super Mario Bros Super Show|The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3]]''.

* Sheen Estevez from ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron]]'' is a huge fan of ''Ultralord''.

* ''Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery'' from ''[[Invader Zim]]''. And the ''Angry Monkey Show''.

* In one episode of ''[[Sushi Pack]]'', the Pack members get to go backstage and meet the contestants of their favorite reality show, ''The World's Mightiest Heroes''. Too bad the heroes are all [[Smug Super]]s...

* One episode of ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' featured Garfield watching the game show "Hit The Buzzer, Win A Cookie", which is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

 

== Examples of type 3 (SWAS is plot point) ==

* In ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|(Zoku) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei]]'' episode 3, we see Harumi undergo the process of [[Doujinshi|drawing her]] [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi doujin]] one summer night while listening to a [[Radio Drama|radio show]] with the other characters talking about [[Older Than They Look|acting their age]]. These are two separate stories, though they occasionally overlap with cut shots and her comments. Note that the radio show is the actual adaptation of the manga chapter, while the [[Day in the Life|night in the life]] of Harumi is anime-specific.

* ''[[Chobits]]'' -- ''A City Without People'', drawn by {{spoiler|Chi's original creator}}. It [[Hangs a Lampshade]] on the problems Persocoms are causing and drops hints on Chi's nature and eventual internal struggle.

* [[Tenchi Universe]] gives us one program that distracts Mihoshi so badly that Washu's Mecha Washu-Mihoshi runs off to watch it mid-fight. That show? [[Moldiver]].

 

* A show-within-a-comic plays a pivotal role in ''[[Ronin (comics)|Ronin]]''.

 

** Co-hero Buzz Lightyear has [[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command|his own show]] that was [[Defictionalization|defictionalized.]]

** Woody, Jessie, Stinky Pete, and Bullseye from ''Toy Story 2'' are all toys based on the main characters of ''Woody's Round Up''.

* In [[The View Askewniverse]], there is ''Bluntman and Chronic'', a fictionalized superhero comic book version of Jay and Silent Bob. The two went to Hollywood in ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'' in order to prevent its leap to the big screen.

* ''[[Zebraman]]'' is a Japanese film that features a cancelled television series by the same name.

* The very premise of the film ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' revolves around the fictional show of the same name. The plot centers around the cast members of the eponymous show, who are abducted by a race of aliens erroneously believing the show is real and worshiping the cast members as heroes.

* German director Sönke Wortmann took this [[Up to Eleven]] with the movie he made at film school. It's about a film student who makes a movie about a film student who himself makes a movie at film school. Appropriately, it's called "Drei D" (Three D). The Movie within the movie is called "Zwei D" (Two D).

 

** This formed the central joke in ''A Cock And Bull Story'', which is [[Mockumentary|about the making of]] a film adaptation of the novel (widely considered unfilmable), thereby becoming a recursive instance of this trope—a film-within-a-film whose subject is a book-within-a-book.

* The quiz show in ''[[Slumdog Millionaire]]''.

* The romance novels of "Rosie M. Banks" in ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|The Inimitable Jeeves]]''. Since they're all centered around [[Uptown Girl|inter-class love affairs]], Jeeves advises Bingo Little to read them to his uncle, in the hopes that the power of suggestion will prepare him to fund Bingo's pending marriage to a lowly waitress. [[Hilarity Ensues]] when the uncle becomes a huge fan, and Bingo furthers the [[Zany Scheme]] by [[Seemingly-Profound Fool|introducing Bertie to him as the author]]. {{spoiler|And when the real author turns up, Bingo ends up marrying her instead}}.

 

* ''Wormhole X-Treme!'' within ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''.

** Like the in-universe ''[[The X-Files]]'' film, it's designed to look as cheap, campy and tacky as possible.

* ''The Adventures of Captain Proton!'' within ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' (this one also has a bit of the first variety in it as well).

** Also, there's ''The Shakespeare Code'', where a lost Shakespearean play, "Love's Labour Won" is part of an evil alien plot.

* In ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' episode "The Nighmare of Milky Joe", Vince and Howard become stranded on a desert island while on their way to perform on ''The Pieface Showcase''. This intention, combined with Milky Joe's later appearance, also make it a Type 1.

** Since it's a twisted version of what actually happened to Ted, it's also an example of type 4!

** Robin considers becoming a "Currency Rotation Specialist" on "Million Dollar Heads Or Tails", hosted at various times by Regis Philbin and [[Alex Trebek]].

** Also the [[Voice of the Resistance]], which was used to counter Clark propaganda. It also was used in a [[Batman Gambit]] by Sheridan.

 

* Played with by Evermore's song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwb3M7WACPs "Hey Boys and Girls"], from the concept album ''Truth of the World: Welcome to the Show''. As part of the album's plot, it's a broadcast by the eponymous radio station. But it was also released as a single, and when it's played alone on the radio, with the opening line "We're interrupting transmission... welcome to the show" - it looks like Truth of the World just took over your radio station. The show-within-a-show has broken out of The Show and is now running the show...

 

* "If you ever find out what you're watching is a show within a show, sit back and hang on for the ride of your life."—Jack Handey

 

* ''Stage Blood'' by Charles Ludlam is a little bit extreme in this. The whole plot is an adaptation of Hamlet that takes place during a production of Hamlet, while another show (an experimental play written by one of the characters) is performed in place of The Mousetrap Scene.

* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'' -- "''The Clorise''", the play presented at the Hotel de Bourgougne in the first act, is a real play (that gets interrumpted at the third line by the protagonist!). The first act is titled "A Representation at the Hotel de Bourgogne", where actors are playing ''The Clorise''. The Hotel de Bourgogne was the oldest and most famous stage in Paris during that time and ''The Clorise'' was a real play written by Balthazar Baro, a real author of the time ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' is settled on. Balthazar Baro's theatrical output includes the innovative play ''Célinde'' (1628), which makes imaginative use of the play-within-the-play, as Edmund Rostand, [[Shown Their Work|a french theatre scholar himself, was aware]]. So the play within a play is a real play that was popular in his time, but now is obscure at the very least. Is even lampshaded (and mocked) by this dialogue:

'''The Burgher:''' Master Balthazar Baro. It is a play and a half!... }}

* ''[[Nixon in China]]'', where in act II Nixon, his wife, and Henry Kissinger attend a ballet and sing the opinions of the ballet dancers in a manner highly suggestive of a strawman of their own views. Based on an actual ballet staged by Chairman Mao's wife, who yells at the dancers en scene when they mess up.

 

* A major point of ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' is that you are playing as Desmond Miles, who spends most of his time in the game participating in an interactive simulation of his ancestor's memories. In other words, Desmond is ''playing a video game.''

* In ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'', Maya is a big fan of the [[Toku]] series ''The Steel Samurai'' (''Tonosaman'' in the Japanese version). The star of the series, Will Powers, is later arrested for murder. ''[[Ace Attorney]]: Justice For All'' reveals that toku series are [[Serious Business]] in the Ace Attorney universe, to the point one case revolves around an awards show. ''Ace Attorney Investigations'' has an embassy host a ''Steel Samurai/Pink Princess'' stage show as part of its celebrations its holding. {{spoiler|Edgeworth fanboyism for the series also manages to show itself somewhat.}}

* ''[[Alan Wake]]'' twists this in all sorts of ways: Alan (a novelist) apparently wrote the story-within-the-story, but [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|he can't remember it]], and the events of the story-within-the-story start predicting events in the outside story, except it turns out the events of the outside story are happening that way because of [[Rewriting Reality|the story-within-the-story being written under the influence of an]] [[Eldritch Abomination]], and then the story-within-the-story starts referencing the story-within-the-story in the context of the outside story and [[Mind Screw|now I've gone cross-eyed]].

 

* The ''Mushroom Kingdom News'' occasionally seen on ''[[There Will Be Brawl]]'' serves for dropping plot points to Luigi.

* ''The Legend of Hayaoh'' in ''[[Tasakeru]]''. {{spoiler|Overlaps with Type 4.}}

* The play Thalia sponsors at the Pythian Games in ''[[Thalia's Musings]]''. It provides a safe means of {{spoiler|revealing Eros and Psyche's whereabouts, repenting to Aphrodite, and asking that Psyche be made immortal. Aphrodite and Hera take to the stage to grant both requests.}}

 

* Used a couple times in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'':

* The ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'' episode "I Have No Son" created Rocko and Filburt's favorite ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]''-esque grossout [[Widget Series|nonsense show]], ''The Fatheads''. Then, in a variety-one example, in the fan-beloved sequel episode "Wacky Delly", the creator of ''The Fatheads'' cancels the show and lets the main characters ghost-write the eponymous and unintentionally [[Dada Comics|Dadaist]] cartoon [[Springtime for Hitler|so it can be cancelled and he can retire]]. It Doesn't Work.

* ''Hard Times for Haggis'' from ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' is a truly mind-bending example. The protagonist is the [[Bonnie Scotland|stereotypically Scottish]] Haggis McHaggis, whose variety-one show-within-a-show "The Scotsman" is cancelled and replaced by... the "The Ren and Stimpy Show". Irate, Haggis gets revenge on Ren and Stimpy by hijacking their show with a crude sock-puppet simulacrum performed by his hired thugs. Haggis' plan backfires when the sock-puppets become an instant smash-hit and him, Ren and Stimpy being thrown out on the street. Also, Stimpy's favorite show, the Muddy Mudskipper Show, fits into this trope.

* ''[[The Replacements]]'' features ''The Majestic Horse'', ''Monkey Cop'', ''Rainbow Jumper'', and ''Splatter Train'', among others. ''The Majestic Horse'' could be seen as an example of Type 4 in the first episode in which it appears (although it's more that the events after the movie is shown parody the movie or subvert its premise), and at least one episode involves the Darings in the production of a movie.

* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' has an episode in which our heroes are [[Trapped in TV Land]] and must navigate the troperiffic parodyscape of gameshows, soap operas, sports programming, [[Creature from the Black Lagoon|ominous swamps]], the black-and-white [[The Fifties|fifties]] and [[Star Wars|Star Destroyers]].

* ''[[Dora the Explorer]]'' is a Show Within a Show. The intro explicitly shows that it's a computer game.

* ''[[Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?]]'' is set in a 90s computer game, just like the source.

* In the ''[[Kim Possible]]'' episode "Rappin' Drakken", Dr. Drakken tries to sell his [[Mind Control Device|brainwashing]] [[May Contain Evil|shampoo]] by singing a rap song about it on [[American Idol|"American Starmaker"]].

 

== Examples of type 4 ([[Plot Parallel]]) ==

* ''The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina'', the [[Non-Indicative First Episode]] ([[Anachronic Order|sort of]]) of ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi|The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' produced by the main characters, foreshadows the weird goings on (most notably the existence of aliens, time travelers, and espers) that are the focus of the rest of the series.

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' there are frequently radio and TV talk shows subtly playing in the background that mirror psychological issues being dealt with in the show. Especially prevalent in the first half of the show.

* ''Admiral Geroro'' in ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'', although Geroro sounds as though he has more luck than Keroro.

* In the universe of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', "Digimon" is a popular franchise, implied to even have a T.V. show. The [[Card Game|cards]], specifically, were ''very'' useful. Note that the Saban English dub wrongly assumed (it's contradicted in-universe and by [[Word of God]]) that the TV series were the prior two series of the franchise (collectively known as ''[[Digimon Adventure|Digimon]]'' ''[[Digimon Adventure 02|Adventure]]''), which [[First Installment Wins|irked plenty of fans]].

* In chapter 37 of the ''[[Omamori Himari]]'' manga, there's a single panel showing Yuuto playing a video game—of Himari fighting Shizuku.

* Taken to [[Mind Screw]]y heights in [[Satoshi Kon]]'s ''[[Perfect Blue]]'', where the internal show's plot seems to mirror reality so impossibly well that the line becomes impossible to find. There's a part at the height of the confusion where there's a sequence of scenes which all look like they're about the main character's real life struggles, {{spoiler|including a scene where she's declared to have multiple personality disorder and to falsely believe she's an actress}}, only for someone to yell "Cut!", several times (while she's suffering identity crises of her own thanks to her stalker/impostor). The viewer is left questioning whether that really was just part of the show. The show also pushes itself onto reality with the rape scene, which Mima tries to play off as no big deal except as a boost to her career but in reality took very hard).

 

* There are several in the comic ''[[Y: The Last Man]]''. ''The Last Man'' is a play written and performed by the Fish & Bicycles acting troupe (Yorick, the ''real'' last man is not happy to discover that the play ends with ''him'' dying). The same people are seen several years later (unsuccessfully) trying to make an action movie about the radical man-hating Daughters of the Amazon, then finally end up creating a successful comic series about the last woman on Earth (Yorick is equally unimpressed with it). And when the protagonists are in Japan they watch traditional Noh theatre featuring a demon called Hitogoroshi (Manslaughter).

** Amusingly, since in most cases the superheroes themselves gain licensing money and are actually somewhat involved in the comic's production, it's implied that the in-universe Marvel comics are slightly more skewered to portray the heroes in a better light than our real-world versions of the same comics. The heroes themselves usually answer the fanmail in the comics too, which leads to some really odd things being said—like Reed Richards wanting to get rid of fashion and force everyone in the world to wear Fantastic Four-style uniforms.

* ''[[Watchmen]]'' also has ''Tales of the Black Freighter'', a dark pirate comic (since superhero comics didn't catch on in a world with real superheroes, pirate comics became common instead) which is used as a metaphor for various parts of the story and the characters' plights.

 

* The opening credits of ''[[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid]]'' feature a silent film of the Hole in the Wall gang's exploits.

* ''[[Sherlock, Jr.]]'' (1924) stars [[Buster Keaton]], who falls asleep and dreams while working as a theater projectionist—the movie plays a more upscale version of a real life theft he's wrongly accused of. He literally walks into the movie through the screen, and plays the brilliant detective he aspires to be.

* The film ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'' is something of a literal inversion of this in that the characters find themselves in a real life situation eerily resembling the show they starred in. Though there doesn't appear to be any direct [[Plot Parallel]].

 

* The [[Passion Play]] in the novel ''Christ Recrucified'', by Nikos Kazantzakis, reflects the fate of all characters who take part in it.

* A major plot point in ''[[VALIS]]''. Kevin convinces his friends Horselover Fat and Philip K. Dick to go watch a movie named ''Valis'', and the three of them realize that the events in the film parallel the bizarre visions that Fat has been having. Before, they had been able to dismiss these visions as hallucinations, but seeing the film convinces them that someone really was contacting Fat, and this same someone had also contacted the filmmaker.

* The [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] has "Battlecruiser ''Vengeance''", a Klingon space opera featuring the adventures of a Klingon starship captain and crew.

 

* ''Wormhole X-Treme!'' within ''[[Stargate SG-1]]''.

* ''[[Drake and Josh]]'' has Drew And Jerry, which was basically Drake and Josh's life being put into a tv show. As an aside, it also opens up the potential for a universe busting aversion of [[Celebrity Paradox]], by making [[Drake and Josh]], [[iCarly]], [[Victorious]] and [[Zoey 101]] all 'real' an existing in the same 'universe' as the actor's who play all the characters. For example, this means in that universe, there are four versions of [[Miranda Cosgrove]].

* [[Sifl and Olly]] were big fans of the show ''Peto & Flek'', which seems to be a complete distillation of the concept: two faces in a void, screeching to a phantom audience. Peto was the "straight man" while Flek only ever said "Guh-guh-guh-guh!"

* In ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'', Saffron writes an autobiographical play entitled ''The Self-Raising Flower'', which uses actual dialogue from previous episodes.

* Similarly, there was an episode of the TV show ''[[Nowhere Man]]'' that featured a cheaply produced, poorly acted cable-TV-esque version of the main events of the series, which included the events of the episode itself.

* ''The Adventures of FATMAN'', the show-within-a-show in ''[[The Weird Al Show]]'', tells of a man who can change into a fat man with the power to lift heavy objects, withstand scalding liquids, and fly, though [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|slower than cars]]. Harvey the hamster can stand and talk in this show, and is generally [[Hypercompetent Sidekick|cleverer]] than [["Weird Al" Yankovic]].

* ''Ghostfacers'' within ''[[Supernatural]]''.

** But much more so with the '''book'''-within-a-show. The book series ''Supernatural'' introduced in the episode actually ''is'' the first few seasons of the show, and its [[Take That]]s at the fans are exquisite. {{spoiler|Turns out the series was written by the ''prophet'' Chuck, chronicling what will eventually become the Winchester Gospel. That title is incredibly ambiguous as to whether it will feature one or both of them.}}

* ''[[Masked Rider]]'' has been [[retcon]]ned to be a show-within-a-show when Nadira in ''[[Power Rangers Time Force]]'' was shown watching it.

* One episode of ''[[Queer as Folk]]'' features the rather farcical ''Gay as Blazes'', which sarcastically parodies common criticisms of the show.

 

* ''The Murder of Gonzago'' in ''[[Hamlet]]'' is performed because it mirrors the suspected crime of Claudius. Hamlet organizes the performance to see how he reacts. The quality of the writing (and, in most competent performances of ''Hamlet'', the acting) in ''The Murder'' is [[Stylistic Suck|much less naturalistic]] than that of the "outer play", to the point of seeming truly stilted to modern audiences. But there's a genius even in the wince-worthy lines: it's a remarkably spot-on imitation of the writing style of the pre-Renaissance morality plays put on by that type of strolling players.

** Taken to extremes in ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]'', which makes ''Gonzago'' even closer to the plot of ''Hamlet'', including, of course, the deaths of two old friends of the young prince, which in the outer play [[Foreshadowing|hasn't happened yet]]. Ros and Guil recognise there's something familiar about the situation, but don't make the connection.

* Canio, protagonist in Leoncavallo's opera ''[[Pagliacci]]'' and a commedia dell'arte actor, resolves not to submit to the same fate as his show-within-show character Pagliacci: Canio will not allow himself to be cuckolded and humiliated, and the end, he brings on stage his revenge against his wife and her lover.

 

* The Japanese and European releases of ''[[Metal Gear|Metal Gear: Ghost Babel]]'' features as an [[Easter Egg]] a hidden Codec frequency that launches a fictional radio drama titled ''Idea Spy 2.5'', which has an actual [[Audio Adaptation]] in 2007 (with [[Hideo Kojima]] in the title role).

* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', one advertisement on the Citadel is for a film, ''Citadel'', based on the events of the first game. Unlike many of the above examples, there is no eeriness to this - most of the events of the first game are public knowledge.

 

=== [[Web Comics]] ===

* In ''[[Far From Home]]'', the broadcasts.

 

* ''Weird World'' in ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'' is, arguably, a mix of ''all 4 types''. 1.) The [[Big Bad]], Argost, is the host of ''Weird World''; 2.) Zak, the [[Kid Hero]], is a huge fan of the show, with 3.) Zak's knowledge of Argost's house coming from the show and helping the family survive their rescue mission inside, and 4.) both shows heavily feature cryptids and follow their respective main characters' search for the Kur Stone.

* ''As the Kitchen Sinks'' in ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' is a [[Soap Within a Show|soap opera show]] that the Autobots are seen watching on Teletraan-1.

** Humorously enough, when Optimus was called to fight, he actually ''groaned'' when this happened. That's right, the most [[Badass]] robot there is wanted to see what happened next.

* ''[[Invader Zim]]'' boasts two -- ''[[Department of Redundancy Department|Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery]]'', and ''Probing the Membrane of Science With Professor Membrane.''

* ''[[Futurama]]'' featured the head of Matt Groenig presenting his new show ''Futurella'' at the 3010 Comicon. It got cancelled 3 seconds into the opening sequence.

* The ''[[Arthur]]'' episode "the Contest" (the one with the ''[[South Park]]'' and ''[[Dr. Katz]]'' parodies), had the kids watching ''Andy and friends'' which starred a crudely drawn rat [[Expy]] of Arthur.

{{quote|'''Muffy:''' ''(regarding Andy)'' Why does he always call for his mother? It's like she's his slave.

'''Arthur:''' Andy's not a mouse, he's... [[Cartoon Creature|I'm not sure.]] }}

* In ''[[South Park]]'', the ''Terrance and Phillip'' show revolves around vulgar potty humor -- something ''South Park'''s detractors often fault it for.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Older Than Steam]]

[[Category:Metafiction Demanded This Index]]

[[Category:Beginning Tropes]]