Take That/Live-Action TV: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
m categories and general cleanup |
m Mass update links |
||
Line 7:
*** This episode contains another jab at ''Mr. Belvedere'', with this exchange between the Japanese janitor and Sledge: the janitor says he wants to get home to watch ''Mr. Belvedere'', to which Sledge replies "I guess ''somebody'' has to." {{spoiler|Just to ram the point home, the ''Mr. Belvedere'' fan turns out to be the murderer.}}
* This is pretty much the basic format of Joel McHale's hosting on ''[[The Soup]]'', particularly that of his fellow shows on the [[Guilty Pleasures]]-saturated E! (particularly shows featuring [[Kim Kardashian|a certain gluteally-blessed Armenian-American socialite]]). The fact that he clearly has so much fun doing it as opposed to sounding bitter or jaded helps him avoid the usual traps.
* In the smart cop drama ''[[Homicide: Life On the Street]]'' impressionable Detective Bayliss became awed after interviewing an emergency-room doctor about the death of a patient and said, "It's like she was doing God's work," he enthused. "How can we compare?" Not long after, his cynical, veteran partner, Detective Pembleton was sick of it. "You want glory? Go work at [[ER]]," he snapped. "Homicide's fine by me." A not so subtle jab at the wildly popular hospital show.
** And the producers of ''Homicide: Life on the Street'' had good reason to do a take that against ''ER''. Originally, ''Homicide'' was supposed to replace ''[[LA Law]]'' on Thursday nights at 10:00 PM in the fall of 1994, which at the time was one of the best time slots on NBC. However, ''ER'' tested so well though that NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield decided to give that series the prized Thursday slot.
* Near the end of ''[[
* The second-to-last episode of ''Riptide'' had the team helping out an obvious-but-stupid version of ''[[Moonlighting]]'' (the show that beat it in the ratings).
* An episode of ''[[Monk]]'', "Mr. Monk and the TV Star," has a a scene where Monk and Sharona are on the set of a ''[[CSI]]'' stand-in while investigating their lead actor. We later see a summation bit from the show being redubbed. What we see of the scene demonstrates many of CSI's distinctive visual effects where the killer ''took out his own blood and froze it into a bullet, just so that it would melt without a trace later''.
Line 29:
*** The show was also a fan of doing episodes where they mocked existing shows, ranging from "The Real World" (cast member kills another cast member, manipulated by a corrupt MTV executive), Rescue Me (two episodes were done that criticized that show's take on firefighters), Nip/Tuck (plastic surgeon accidentally kills a patient), and the various TLC shows about families with large numbers of kids.
* ''Law and Order: Criminal Intent'' features as a recurring character an obnoxious, loudmouthed, blond cable news anchor named "Faith Yancy", no points for guessing who she's an Expy of.
** Yet another episode of ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' featured a video blogger named WeepingWillow17 who owned a stuffed monkey puppet and got kidnapped, obviously based on ''[[
** CI somehow managed to deliver a Take That to Tom DeLay on both the show [[wikipedia:Alexandra Eames#Tom DeLay controversy|and in real life]].
* Ironically, on an episode of ''[[CSI]]'' itself, when a reality TV crew was filming the CSIs while they were working, Grissom remarked that there were too many forensic crime shows on TV.
Line 35:
** The [[Two and A Half Men|Chuck Lorre]] written episode "Two And A Half Deaths" was a long "Take That" against Cybill Shepherd, Roseanne Barr, and Brett Butler, all of whom Lorre worked with in the past.
* In the first two episodes of ''The Best Years'', Dawn was a former teen actress whose never-seen [[Show Within a Show]] existed solely to poke fun at ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]''. In one case, it actually parodied a specific ''Degrassi'' episode. When Dawn gets cast as Lady Macbeth in a college play, she can't understand the role at all, and says, "if Lady Macbeth were buying her first bra or discovering the dangers of under-age drinking, I could do this." The producer of ''The Best Years'' worked on ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' for almost its entire run, and a few of the ''D:TNG'' cast has shown up on guest roles -- in fact, on The-N's website, Jay from ''Degrassi'' was on one of the clips they showed from Dawn's TV role -- so this could be more of an [[Affectionate Parody]].
* Fandom is divided on whether the episode "Love and Monsters" is an [[Affectionate Parody]] and loving tribute to the things that make ''[[
** Prior actors of the Doctor bicker non-stop whenever [[Timey-Wimey Ball|they happen to meet each other]]. Jon Pertwee and Patrick Troughton turned this bickering into an art during convention appearances, and Colin Baker and Peter Davison have traded insults on DVD commentaries.
** The third season finale also clearly flipped the bird at the American government when the Doctor manages to turn back time a whole year to avoid a vast majority of the deaths that occurred...and stops ''just'' short of saving the US president as well; with the Doctor specifying that "everything is back to normal." This aspect is arguably justified in it being clearly established that the [[Timey-Wimey Ball]] effect that allowed him to do this only kicked in ''after'' the President was killed -- however, said President's depiction as a [[Strawman Political|arrogant, buffoonish jackass]] who bore a certain resemblance to a certain then-current President definitely belongs here -- and vitriolic comparisons made in that vein on the US [[DVD Commentary]] fuel the fire even more.
Line 47:
'''Dalek Emperor:''' [[This Is Sparta|THOSE WORDS ARE]] ''[[This Is Sparta|BLASPHEMY]]''!<br />
'''Daleks:''' Do not blaspheme! Do not blaspheme! Do not blaspheme! }}
* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' took a big swing at ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' this way, when Ivanova complained about a gift shop on the station: "This isn't some deep-space franchise, this station is ''about'' something!" For added humor, the line was written by [[Peter David]], best known as one of the most talented ''[[Star Trek]]'' tie-in writers, and he was surprised that [[J. Michael Straczynski]] was actually going to use it.
** Said episode also saw the appearance of the infamous "Ba-bear-lon 5" teddy bear. Later on, David and Straczynski would trade [[Take That|Take Thats]] over teddy bears.
** As well, a TV Guide writer with the last name Jarvis predicted after watching the pilot movie that the show, planned from the beginning as a single story told over five seasons, wouldn't last a month, resulting in the occasional line such as "The Jarvis toilets are acting up again." The fourth season finale, the first episode written after JMS knew for sure that he would get to tell the whole story, takes a far more direct approach: it ends with a simple shot of text on a black background that says, ''"Dedicated to all the people who predicted that the Babylon Project would fail in its mission. Faith manages."''
Line 54:
** During the first battle with The Shadows Delenn says that it is hopeless. Sheridan replies "No offense but I've heard that before." Which is a polite way of saying, "I'm ''Starkiller'' and all you Minbari better be grateful for it too."
* The character of Harriet on ''[[Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip]]'' is partly a Take That on Kristen Chenoweth, Aaron Sorkin's ex-girlfriend, and partly... well, I just don't freaking know. It got really blatant when they devoted an entire episode to recreating Chenoweth's photo shoot for FHM, and having the male senior writers lambast her for it.
** Most of Studio 60 was a Take That directed to ''everyone'' who annoyed [[Writer
** [[Self-Deprecation]] drove Studio 60 as much if not far more than Take That. Harriet was portrayed as a balanced, endlessly caring woman who Sorkin's alter ego never fell out of love with.
** God, the take-thattage at Kristin Chenoweth is infuriating. It becomes fairly blatant when Sorkin decides to get the final word on an argument regarding Chenoweth's decision to appear on ''The 700 Club'' by recreating the scenario with Matt and Harriet - and again, when he does the same thing with Chenoweth's FHM photoshoot - but he stepped it up several notches in the episode 4am Miracle when Harriet was blamed outright for Matt's drug problem (which began after she rejected his advances because he was acting like a stalker) and later has a breakdown on a film set out of guilt for how mean she has been to Matt.
Line 72:
** The episode "Mork's Mixed Emotions" had a brief [[Take That]] against [[Steve Martin]]. Mork, after a wild night of overwhelming emotions, bursts into the record store and throws a cardboard cut-out of Steve across the room and yells Steve's trademark "EXCUUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEEEEE!". Perhaps not really intended as a Take That, since Steve and Robin are friends in real life, but it sure comes off as one.
** And one of the more bizarre episodes was a [[Take That]] against commercial television, with Mork becoming a zombie consumer and then having a nightmare about all his friends becoming tools of the advertisers. Of course, [[Broken Aesop|being on a commercial network, they had to add a coda that "advertising is okay and it's up to the consumer to decide whether to buy or not."]] It even had a [[Fourth Wall]] breaking ending, with Mork saying "If there's something on television you don't want to watch, you can simply just press this butt-"... followed by the screen shrinking down to a dot like when older TVs turned off.
* ''[[Scrubs]]'' has a pretty mean [[Take That]] against ''[[Grey's Anatomy
{{quote| '''J.D.:''' I love Grey's Anatomy. It's like they took our lives and put it on TV.}}
** They did another one against ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', when Keith mentions seeing a disease on ''House'' and Cox goes on a rampage.
*** But they also did the episode "My House", which definitely falls in the [[Affectionate Parody]] category.
** In the episode My Own Worst Enemy J.D. wins a "Who-Cares-y" award from Doctor Cox, and thinks "Suck on that, Tony Shalhoub". Zach Braff has been nominated for a Best Actor Emmy twice, and lost to Shalhoub both times.
Line 89:
'''Dr. Bill Lee''': (yells, from the background) Eureka! <br />
'''Dr. Bill Lee''': (as they turn to look at him) One down, twelve to go! <br />
'''Jacek''': That's too bad because after all your Stargate program has accomplished for [[Leaning
** ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' had a deleted scene (filmed, but not included) in "Miller's Crossing" where Sheppard and Ronon are watching TV in a motel when ''[[Battlestar Galactica]]'' (the version running concurrently with ''Atlantis'' in [[Real Life]]) comes on. Ronon watches it for a bit, and then tells Sheppard "We need to help those people." Sheppard tells him it is just a TV show and people write TV shows to make life more exciting, then jabs at them by saying their lives are more interesting than those of the ''Galactica'' characters.
* One of the later episodes of ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'' featured a rather savage attack on ''[[Friends]]'' in the form of a [[Show Within a Show]] called "Buds", among whose cast there was, of course, the requisite murder. And murderer.
** There was an obvious spoof of then-rival ''Cagney & Lacey'' on ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'' -- the cops of the week were female partners, one blonde and one dark, both with rather outrageously blue-collar accents, shown as almost constantly on the phone trying to solve personal/family issues.
** And another episode took place on the set of ''Danger Doctor'' - an obvious ''[[
* The series ''[[Millennium (TV series)|Millennium]]'' was apparently the subject of so much [[Executive Meddling]] from the Broadcast Standards and Practices that series writer Darin Morgin parodied him in the episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me," with a segment about how a demon drives a Broadcast Standards & Practices guy insane. This eventually results in the hilarious line, "You will not get away with this! The final scene is gratuitously violent! Aliens would not carry an Uzi! They are a superior race and they would not carry or utilize automatic weapons! I will not approve this! ''[[This Is Sparta|I am Broadcast Standards and Practices!]]''"
* The second series of ''[[Extras]]'' was largely a Take That towards sitcoms that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant don't like -- primarily catchphrase-based, broad and unnaturalistic shows such as ''[[Little Britain]]''.
** And the Christmas special series finale was greatly pointed at ''[[Big Brother]]''.
Line 105:
** ''Non-Permissive Environment'': Spanish authorities ask the Unit to assassinate a terrorist, then call the assassination off because they want to negotiate with him instead, and then try to arrest the team members when they kill him anyway.
** ''The Wall'': The French Army is a bunch of asses that prefer to see a war criminal going away instead of cooperating with the Americans.
* In ''[[
* Many people see the ''[[Supernatural]]'' episode "Malleus Maleficarum" as a [[Take That]] against ''[[
** The episode "Hollywood Babylon," which is an [[Affectionate Parody]] of the show itself, contains some [[Take That|Take Thats]] aimed at [[Executive Meddling|the CW executives]]. In the episode, the horror movie's producers and director all die horribly, and Eric Kripke claims that every request that the executive producer made was an actual request that the writing staff received from the CW execs, which included making the show [[Lighter and Softer]], among other things. Gary Cole's character was the first to die--''on the film's set in the middle of shooting'', no less.
*** In the same episode there is another [[Take That]] at ''[[Gilmore Girls]]''. When Sam is on a tour of the studio and the tourguide mentions that they will now reach the set for ''[[Gilmore Girls]]'' Sam makes a shocked face and jumps off the train.
Line 120:
'''Dean''': Aw, come on. That... That's just SICK! }}
** Also, later in the episode Dean and Sam want to know how Chuck knows enough about them to be writing these books. At one point Dean demands to know why Chuck wouldn't tell them that he is a Prophet.
{{quote| '''Chuck''': It was too preposterous, not to mention arrogant. I mean, writing yourself into the story is one thing, but as a prophet? That's like, [[M. Night Shyamalan|M Night]] level douchey-ness.}}
*** M. Night Shyamalan, Deangirls v. Samgirls, rabid fans... the list from this episode alone goes on and on. But it was also an example of ''[[Supernatural]]'' showing just how much it understood and appreciated its fans, while not being afraid to make fun of their...idiosyncrasies. The writers also took potshots at examples of their own bad writing for heaven's sake.
** Then there's "Ghost Facers" and "Criss Angel is a Douche Bag". I'm not joking, that second one is actually the title of an episode, which had an actual Criss Angel [[Expy]] with his own reality show.
** At the beginning of season five's "Free to Be You and Me," as Dean kills a vampire: "Eat it, [[Twilight (
** "Changing Channels," the episode where the Trickster throws Sam and Dean into different TV shows, contains brilliant [[Take That|Take Thats]] to ''[[
*** Actually, the ''Grey's Anatomy'' bit is a bit closer to a mix between a [[Running Gag]] and [[Affectionate Parody]] as it was already established that Dean is an unabashed ''Dr. Sexy, MD'' fan - the [[Show Within a Show]] which resembles ''Grey's Anatomy''. As for the ''CSI: Miami'' [[Take That]], note this line:
{{quote| '''Dean'''" Calm down? I'm wearing sunglasses at night. You know who does that? No talent douchebags. }}
** In season 1, Dean asks Sam, "Who do you think is the hotter psychic: Patricia Arquette, Jennifer Love Hewitt, or you?" This is a [[Take That]] towards the two other psychic shows running at the time (''[[Medium]]'' and ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'' respectively).
** In season 5, Paris Hilton plays a God pretending to be herself. Dean tells her that he is not a fan of Paris Hilton and has never even seen ''[[House of Wax]]'', to which Sam gives him an odd look. (Jared Padalecki was in House of Wax with Paris Hilton.)
* ''[[Beakman's World
** In the last episode, the show managed to pull off the mother of all [[Take That|Take Thats]].
{{quote| '''Beakman''': You wrench 'em, I'll drench 'em, let's Macarena!<br />
Line 148:
** Simon then takes it one step further by introducing an unlikeable, two-faced newspaper editor in the fifth season based off of the real Marrimow.
*** That, I beleive, would be the one who yells "I don't want an amorphous series about society's ills!" in the newsroom.
* ''[[
* Adam Buxton's [[Sketch Show]] Mee BOX has a sketch involving [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0DJnR5OT9UQ an interview with a fictional actor "Famous Guy"] which has several Take Thats within. The first and most obvious is a jab at the popularity of actors, as Famous Guy is referred to as a "pretending man" and "the best at pretending". It also parodies the movie industry's constant rehashing of the same ideas with nondescript movie titles like "Horse Chase", "The Exploding Car" and "They Came From Space There". American actors trying to duplicate a [[British Accent]] is sent-up with Famous Guy's bad attempt at a Cockney accent. There's a more subtle jab at men's magazines in the first part of the sketch: if you pause at the "Man Magazine" you can read headlines such as "Articles about sex inside here" and "Are all feelings homosexual? Why the answer is yes". This is perhaps aimed at [[British Newspapers|the Daily Sport]], which has recently relaunched itself as being about nothing but "Sports, girls and funny stuff".
* In the ''[[
** The episode itself had Kryten compare something thoroughly unsurprising to ''[[Tales of the Unexpected]]''.
** ''The Last Day'' has Kryten speculate he might have just realised the value of friendship. Lister instructs him to can the ''[[Star Trek]]'' crap.
** In "Back To Reality", when the crew are hallucinating that they've been playing ''Red Dwarf: The Total Immersion Video Game'' very badly, we see a brief snatch of the next players, who are supposedly doing "better". Lister is a stereotyped American action hero, Kryten is just a bald human in a mechanoid suit, and Cat and Rimmer simply don't appear very distinctive. Now look at Grant Naylor's criticisms of the failed US pilot...
* ''Brookside'': In its final months, the writers had a drug dealer named Jack Michaelson show up and later get lynched in the last ever episode. It was a [[Take That]] against Michael "controller of Channel 4, as opposed to the Moonwalk guy" Jackson, who had cancelled the show. The finale ended with the longest-serving character giving a thinly veiled rant about TV and society, before vandalizing the titular "Brookside Close."
* ''[[30 Rock
** ''30 Rock'' has also been happy to dance on the corpse of ''Studio 60'', most notably in their parody of the infamous episode which features Timothy Busfield's Director touring the studio with a writer from the "golden age." ''30 Rock'' cast Tim Conway as an aged and irrelevant old hand from 30 Rock's past, being led around by Kenneth the Page, while Conway spouts such lines as "We called that the Jew room!" in reference to the writers' room.
** During the second season episode "Rosemary's Baby," ''30 Rock'' also took a shot at the career of former [[Production Posse]] recurring guest star Rachel Dratch, whose film ''Spring Breakdown'', about a group of 30-something women who go on spring break and attempt to relive their college experiences, was having trouble finding a distributor at the time. During the episode, a senile former comedy writer (played by Carrie Fisher) pitches a film about... cougars going on spring break. Even for Tina Fey, who's very well-respected but [[Nice Character, Mean Actor|known to be kind of be a bitch]], that's just cold.
* ''[[The Daily Show]]'' hands out [[Take That|Take Thats]] on a regular basis, most memorably when host Jon Stewart was invited onto the CNN political op-ed show ''Crossfire'', as a really, ''really'' ill-judged ratings grab. Stewart announced right off the top that he was no-one's 'monkey', and proceeded to demonstrate by spending the entire hour attacking the hosts, accusing them of of irrelevance, partisan hackery, and just generally a complete lack of journalistic integrity. He wound up by calling one of the hosts a 'dick' to his face. Not entirely coincidentally, ''Crossfire'' was cancelled a few months later.
** [[The Colbert Report]] took the idea and ran with it. [[The Colbert Report
** And now 'the new Crossfire' - Jim Cramer. It's not an interview, [http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=221516&title=Jim-Cramer-Unedited-Interview-Pt.-1 it's an execution].
** On his part in getting Crossfire canceled, Stewart said he had no idea that all he had to do to get a show canceled was say that it was hurting America. He then announced that [[According to Jim]] was hurting America.
* One episode of ''[[Big Wolf
** In another episode, they poke fun at ''[[The Lost Boys]]''. And, who was the special guest of that episode? None other than Corey Haim.
* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' aimed a few Take Thats at programme planners, who had irritated the team by moving the programme about in the schedules seemingly at random. Among the brickbats include John Cleese's comment in the second series "I'd like to be in programme planning, unfortunately I've got a degree" and an extended sketch in the third series were penguins were discovered to be more intelligent than programme planners.
** The ''Python'' team also aimed a few Take Thats at former employer David Frost; in one instance parodying him as the narcisstic Timmy Williams whose TV show credits proclaimed him as sole writer, followed by a neverending list of names under "Additional Material".
** Don't forget all the Take Thats aimed at British politicians in specific ("Number 26: Margaret Thatcher's brain") and in general ("It was never our intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed, political time-servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government...").
* A TV movie about the making of ''[[Gilligan's Island
* [[Statler and Waldorf]] from ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' are the anthropomorphic personifications of this trope.
* When you blend improv and network-to-network taunting, you get this: For the suggestion "trivial reasons to hold news conferences" in [[Whose Line Is It Anyway?|Scenes From A Hat]], Wayne Brady said that he would announce UPN's Fall-season lineup.[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrnu2Uh9Mwc&feature=channel_page\]
** As opposed to all the times they like flinging it at each other, or the host. Or at the director. A fabled [[YouTube]] item shows Wayne and Brad about to sing the theme tune for a sitcom. An audience member suggested 'Cosby and Hitler'. This was rejected. During the actually-used song, Ryan (as Cosby!) throws a Nazi salute and goosestep; Colin shakes his head no.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=[[F Jfe T Am 65 NE]]
* In an episode of ''[[Psych]]'', Shawn mentions he would make up for skipping a camping trip with his dad by saying he will go over to his dad's house and "Maybe watch a couple of episodes of ''[[The Mentalist]]''." ''The Mentalist'' is a blatant rip-off of ''Psych'', albeit more serious and better funded.
Line 183:
** Shawn seems to like this trope. A recent tribute commercial to Monk has Shawn saying that Monk is the second most observant person he knows- well, third, next to the Mentalist.
** Shawn and Gus (and sometimes minor characters) also take frequent pot shots at Chad Michael Murray, to the point that it could be considered a [[Running Gag]]. The writers definitely have something against him—in "Yang 3 in 2D," Mary goes on a ''rant'' about it in his video diaries:
{{quote| '''Mary''': "What is the deal with ''[[One Tree Hill]]''? I don’t understand. It’s like a…it’s like a [[Poor Man's Substitute|poorly executed]] ''[[
* ''[[Medium]]'' does this to ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'' when Allison investigates {{spoiler|what seems to be the spirit of a dead author going into an injured man to reunite with his wife. It turns out the "new" husband is a fraud who found the dead man's unpublished autobiography.}}
** "Who do you think I am, the Ghost Whisperer?" was also said on an episode of ''[[CSI]]''.
* ''[[Ghost Whisperer]]'' itself had an entire episode dedicated to knocking ''[[Twilight (
* Jim Henson's ''Dinosaurs'' delivered one to ''[[Unsolved Mysteries]]'', which played in the same timeslot on another network. After being asked how they keep their material so fresh, the host of "Mysteries Which Haven't Been Solved Yet" answers that they have four mysteries that they show over and over again. "Luckily, nobody seems to notice."
{{quote| Earl: "Why are we even watching this show anyway? I wanna watch the puppet show on the other channel!"<br />
Line 205:
* As much [[Self-Deprecation]] as a [[Take That]]: On a crossover episode with ''[[Picket Fences]]'', ''Chicago Hope'' gave a bitter nod to then-ratings powerhouse ''[[ER]]''. When Kathy Baker's guest-star character became frustrated at what Chicago Hope's doctors were telling her, she irately declared, "We could have gone to the ''other'' one!" The hospital director's reply? "We ''never'' mention the other one." Mentioned or not, ''ER'' eventually buried its onetime head-to-head Thursday night competitor.
** Heh. [[ER]] even took a swipe at ITSELF. An episode that had a doctor who worked with a news crew hovering outside the hospital and giving incorrect information to the public had a character commenting, "Ugh. TV doctors."
* The ''[[
** Also any time Lorne mentions [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]].
* ''[[
{{quote| '''Crow''': This movie is like ''[[
** They also subverted it, with a deliberately unfunny "lampoon" of ''[[Love, American Style]]''
** They also had a history of doing this to Leonard Maltin. In the episode "Laserblast", Dr. Forrester mentions that Maltin gave this movie 2 and a half stars. Mike and the bots then take out his movie guide and mock him during the credits. In the episode "The Undead", they find out he gave the movie three stars. Mike dressed up as him and apologizes. Maltin actually got back at them by appearing on the show and suggesting that Mrs. Forrester force them to watch "Gorgo", which he actually also liked (though he admitted it put two of his book editors in intensive care).
** Morrissey [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQR78U6zvGI Tupperware].
** Show creator Joel Hodgson considered fellow prop comic Gallagher something of an arrogant dick after a pre-[[
* ''[[
** To top it off, the stuff the Dingo Channel creates is said to be completely bland, stale, and devoid of anything even remotely resembling entertainment value.
*** Disney seems to have fired back. Notice ''So Random'''s resemblance to ''[[All That]]'' in ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]''.
Line 222:
*** And then there's "iCarly Saves TV," a subtlety-free [[Take That]] to network television's idea of TV for kids.
** Another Take That was aimed at the fans (or more specifically, the ones who are constantly nagging about Seddie or Creddie pairings) during the episode ''iStart A Fan War'', by showing them as crazy losers who don't care about the show itself, only about the [[Shipping]].
* On the [[Comedy Central]] game show ''[[Win Ben
* ''[[The X-Files]]'' had one episode where Mulder bought pirated [[Alien Autopsy]] footage. Scully believes that it looks hokier than the Fox autopsy. Turns out it's real. Another had them take a shot at then Oscar winning ''[[Forrest Gump]]'', when the Smoking Man twists the upbeat "Life is like a box of chocolates..." metaphor into a real downer.
** "Life is like a box of chocolates: a cheap, thoughtless perfunctory gift no one ever asked for. Unreturnable because all you get back is another box of chocolates. You're stuck with this undefinable whipped mint crap that you mindlessly wolf down when there's nothing else left to eat. Sure, once in a while there's a peanut butter cup or an English toffee but they're gone too fast and the taste is fleeting. So you end up with nothing but broken bits filled with hardened jelly and teeth shattering nuts. And if you're desperate enough to eat those then all you've got left is an empty box, filled with useless brown paper wrappers."
Line 230:
'''Guard'''"Is that like CSI?"<br />
'''Gibbs''':"Only if you're dyslexic." }}
* ''[[
** Arguably the best one was in "Tabula Rasa" when, upon losing his memories, Spike believes that he is a vampire with a soul, a good guy on a quest for atonement who [[Angel
** "The Girl In Question" gives us this:
{{quote| '''Angel''' : "How'd she (Buffy) ever fall for a centuries-old guy with a dark past who may or may not be evil?"}}
** In [[Angel
* Towards the end of its run, ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' took so, so, SO many shots at everything from Fox to [[Desperate Housewives]].
** Lampshaded in one episode where GOB makes a reference to do-gooding George Michael as "Opie", the narrator (Ron Howard, who played Opie) promptly calls him out on it.
** Inverted with a yet another nice [[Actor Allusion]].
''[[
** The episode "Hollywood Babylon," which is an [[Affectionate Parody]] of the show itself, contains some [[Take That|Take Thats]] aimed at [[Executive Meddling|the CW executives]]: No one was making fun of [[The Andy Griffith Show|Andy Griffith]]. I can't emphasize that enough.
* ''[[Mock the Week]]'' is about 28 minutes of this per half-hour episode, but the August 29, 2009 example takes the prize for being the most...direct. Dara O'Briain, the host, had fluffed his "That's right, the answer is [X]" several times, and announced "Just in case this gets on one of those outtake clip shows, Anne Robinson's a cunt."
* An episode of ''[[Wonder Showzen]]'' had a character played by David Cross say, "Git-r-done" right before being executed. Two other episodes had the show make fun of redneck humor with David Cross' character dressing similar to [[Larry the Cable Guy]].
* ''[[
** Similarly, when it was clear that the show wouldn't last the season, they named their final episode "Friends". [[Friends|Guess which show they were up against]] during their entire run.
* An episode of ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'' had Lou Grant stuck babysitting Bess Lindstrom. She wants to watch TV, so he asks about 'The Clancy Clan'. Bess unenthusiastically describes it as a show about a family that has a lot of kids, and they have all these laughs because...they have all these kids. Lou notably did not ask : What's Their Story?
Line 248:
* On ''[[Castle]]'', Nathan Fillion mocks ''[[CSI: Miami]]'' almost every week. ''CSI: Miami'', of course, is their main timeslot competition.
** He also got in a good shot during the 2009 Emmys, during his appearance as Captain Hammer.
* The vampire romance ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' has evil vampire Damon read ''[[Twilight (
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Mad TV]]'' had [[Santa Claus]] (played by Michael McDonald) erasing a kid's memories of himself. Santa remarked that while he was erasing memories, he wanted the audience to forget about a show called ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. In another sketch, Martin Short (who guest starred on ''[[Mad TV]]'' and was a cast member on ''SNL'' in the mid-1980s), "Live from New York!" and is told that that's another show.
** In an episode cold opening, George W. Bush (played by Will Sasso) calls for a manhunt against Chris Kattan after seeing ''Corky Romano''. ''And'' in another episode cold opening, Nicole Parker insults an old man who only came on ''[[Mad TV]]'' because he thought Jimmy Fallon was a cast member on the show.
Line 256:
* During a late season episode of ''[[The Cosby Show]]'', a young member of the Huxtable family approaches Heathcliff wearing a [[The Simpsons|Bart Simpson]] mask, and Cliff snaps at her to take it off. At the time, ''[[The Cosby Show]]'' was losing its ratings battle with ''[[The Simpsons]]'', and Bart Simpson was considered a bad role model for young children.
** ''[[The Simpsons]]'' have fired back numerous times, most notably when "Bleeding Gums" Murphy does a cameo on the Cosby show. The children complain that wedging him in as a grandfather makes no sense, and Cosby degenerates into nonsensical ramblings instantly while Bleeding Gums just looks around nervously.
* When Fox executives complained that ''[[
* One episode of ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' has Prentiss explaining that the poor preservation of a crime scene was due to "the crime scene investigators" who "all want to play cop instead of just being scientists."
* ''[[Gilligan's Island
* Recent promos for ''Monsterquest'' have shown Bigfoot and a swamp-creature living casually in suburbia, with the caption "If they lived among us, there would be no quest". This may be a [[Take That]] against ''Lost Tapes'', a competing cryptid-themed show with the tagline "Do they live among us?"
** The poor quality of the promo costumes may also be a [[Take That]], as ''Lost Tapes'' monsters are usually pretty fake-looking.
* When Ronnie Barker of ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'' complained that ''[[Not the Nine O
* In response to being [[Executive Meddling|horrifically dicked around by NBC]], [[Conan O
** Hell, that entire ''week'' was a [[Lensman Arms Race|rapidly accelerating arms race]] of Take Thats from every side of the late night war. [http://tv.gawker.com/5448615/the-late-night-war-reaches-its-boiling-point-all-the-clips-you-missed Just check out the clips in this Gawker article.]
* Though not cocky enough to actually name specific shows, the host of ''Weird Creatures'' openly admits that most other nature programs' animal-encounter footage is staged. He occasionally pokes fun at such contrived "lucky chance encounters", as when he introduces a small lizard in extreme close-up, then has the camera pull back to reveal that it's a captive animal kept at a nature reserve (because the wild ones had proven too elusive to film that day).
* A lot of [[Craig Ferguson]]'s jokes on ''[[The Late Late Show|The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson]]'' are (admittedly mostly joking) [[Take That|Take Thats]] towards CBS and TV in general. He has also said a direct [[Take That]] to ''[[M*A*S*H
* ''[[Good News Week]]'' has one of these about every five minutes, besides news stories politics and religion get the worst. It's not uncommon for someone to comment "we're going to have pissed off everyone by the end of the episode" this just results in more [[Take That|take that's]].
* ''[[
{{quote| '''Jeff''': ''(sobbing)'' I hate Glee. I just don't understand the appeal at all.<br />
Modern Warfare: '''Jeff''': Write some original songs! }}
Line 276:
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' had an interesting in-universe Take That. Ted finds out that his ex-fiance's ex-boyfriend made a movie called ''The Wedding Bride'', which is a retelling of the whole marital drama between the trio except blatantly skewed in favor of the ex-boyfriend. To Ted's horror, the main antagonist of the film is called "Jed", and is played up to be the biggest, most unsympathetic [[Jerkass]] in the history of the world.
** There is also a [[Take That]] at ''[[Friends]]'' in an episode where the guys go to a coffee shop. "It's official. Bars are way better to hang out at than coffee shops".
* ''[[Glee]]'' took a shot at ''[[Twilight (
** Also a barrage of Take Thats in "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle" in the top ten losers of the year.
* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' aimed a number of Take Thats, notably at Terry and June (with Oh Crikey!) and at Channel 4. "Alternative lifestyle Neil? You're about as alternative as Channel 4"
* ''[[Unnatural History]]'' took a shot at [[The Jonas Brothers]] in "Curse of the Rolling Stone". The only time they're mentioned, they're [[Eek!
** Made even more hilarious when you realize that the actor who plays Henry (Kevin Schmidt) is the older brother of Kendall Schmidt, who is one fourth of NICKELODEON'S premier boy band, and one of the stars on the show ''[[
* ''[[Criminal Minds]]'': The episode ''JJ'' {{spoiler|was intended to be JJ's last episode and is a [[Take That]] to CBS for trying to get rid of AJ Cook (The actress who plays JJ). They transfer JJ, making it beyond everyone's control. Then the quote at the end spoken by JJ talks about "taking the high road" and "not wanting to be angry" and just about leaving family, like the team (and the cast) so obviously were. Fortunately JJ will be returning to the show after all}}
* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' was forced by studio execs, early in its run, to include Paris Hilton as a guest star. Later in the same season, they're cracking Paris Hilton jokes. A great Take That at both Hilton and the network.
* During the 1990s, the late Jeremy Beadle hosted several popular game shows and comedy programmes on British TV. He was the original presenter of ''You've Been Framed'', a [[Trans Atlantic Equivalent]] to ''[[America's Funniest Home Videos
* ''[[Misfits]]'' has had a couple of pretty overt jabs at ''[[Heroes]]''. Very early on there's a scene where all of the characters break down laughing at the idea that they should all start fighting crime and saving the world (although that could just be superhero stories in general). But S2 has a wimpy [[Soapbox Sadie]] champagne socialist rich-boy who jumps to the conclusion that he might become the most important of the characters... and instantly gets killed off. And the villain of the S2 Christmas episode is a handsome dark-haired guy who wants to be the most powerful person in the world, collects other people's powers but mostly uses telekenesis... and is an utterly pathetic douchenozzle who dies ludicrously well before the end of the ep through stupidly misusing one of his own powers. Anyone get the idea that the writers don't like a certain trustafarian male nurse or a certain guy named after a watch brand?
* On the last episode of the game show ''[[Scrabble (TV series)|Scrabble]]'', Chuck addressed the show's cancellation and said, "I kept telling 'em, "Look, find somebody else to do it, it'll be a huge hit. Look what happened to ''[[Wheel of Fortune|Wheel]]''!" This is, of course, a reference to Chuck's having left ''Wheel of Fortune'' in 1981 over a salary dispute.
* The last episodes of ''[[Late Night]]'' hosted for David Letterman are full of ''Take That'' moments against [[NBC]], but the finale include a subtle one: "The World's Most Dangerous Band", leaded by Paul Shaffer, played as a musical interlude the song titled [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3AjfobLpws&feature=related#t=07m51s We Gotta Get Out Of This Place]. The lyrics of this [[The Sixties|sixties']] song say: "We gotta get out of this place / If it's the last thing we ever do / We gotta get out of this place / Girl, '''there's a better life for me and you'''".
* [[Morecambe and Wise]] had a long-running faux feud with Des O'Connor, with [[Take That|TakeThats]] on almost every show. (In a Julius Caesar sketch:
Line 291:
"Des O'Connor wasn't singing, was he?"<br />
"No we'd thrown him to the lions- but they threw him back.") }}
* One episode of ''[[
{{quote| '''Mr. Feeny:''' ''(over the school intercom)'' And now, because the halls of our school beat with the lively heart of contemporary youth, here is the happening sounds of Mr. [[Michael Bolton]]!<br />
'''Everyone:''' Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!<br />
Line 302:
'''Mr. Turner:''' I'll talk to him ''now''. }}
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' had this happen at various points in the show's history.
** The first season of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' had the episode "Mighty Morphin Mutants," a [[Take That]] against rival show ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987
** ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' had the trading card game Dragon War, which makes a mockery of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' and dragon-based monsters such as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The cards get turned into a monster which is promptly destroyed by the Power Rangers. Doubles as an example of [[Were Still Relevant Dammit]].
** ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'' was aired around the time ''Naruto'' was popular, and spent quite a lot of time mocking Naruto's concepts of Sharingan, Rasengan, and other types of powers.
** They've even mocked themselves on occasion- ''[[Power Rangers Wild Force]]'' featured a [[Take That]] at the [[Never Live It Down|infamous]] episode of ''[[Power Rangers Turbo]]'' where the Rangers got baked into a pizza in the [[Milestone Celebration]] "Forever Red."
|