When Worlds Collide: 10 Classic TV Crossovers

Two of the most famous animated families in entertainment history are set to meet on Sept. 28, when the Griffins go on a road trip that makes an unexpected stop in Springfield. Peter and Homer bro out, Stewie and Bart cause trouble and even Bob from Bob’s Burgers even makes a cameo in this self-aware crossover.

Crossover-happy Mad About You (Friends and The Dick Van Dyke Show—sort of, since the show was no longer on the air at the time—got their turns too) met Seinfeld when viewers learned that Kramer was subletting Paul’s old apartment.

Angel got his start on Buffy, so it was inevitable that the soulful vampire would encounter the slayer once the shows split. In 1999, after having a vision that Buffy was endangered, Angel made a return trip to Sunnydale—spurring her to follow him home.

Homicide and L&O worked together whenever a case involved both Baltimore and New York. As producer Dick Wolf confesses in this interview—the crossovers were “a pain in the ass” meant to annoy the network, but they worked.

In one of several crossovers to take place in the family of ABC’s TGIF programming block, Family Matters’ Steve Urkel gives some much-needed advice to Full House’s Stephanie Tanner as she gets new glasses and deals with low self-confidence.

What does Ally’s law firm do when they need to consult with a lawyer with more homicide experience? Bring in the crew from The Practice, obviously. (The more interesting factoid about this episode: the two shows shared an executive producer but aired on different networks, causing heartache for the The Practice‘s ABC.)

In 1985, the doctors from St. Elsewhere visited the Cheers bar. According to the episode’s writer, the medical show wanted to do a scene where the staff discussed their lives over drinks, and they pretty much figured ‘Why not at thatbar?’

It’s difficult to know where to start with soap-opera crossovers…but it’s pretty hard to top a baby-swap. In this plot line, One Life to Live and All My Children families ended up with each others’ childr

In the 1999 King of Queens episode “Rayny Day” Ray Romano’s Everybody Loves Raymond character stops by to play golf with Kevin James, his cross-sitcom buddy. (It wasn’t the first example of a crossover between the two CBS shows, and Ray Barone was also friends, in another crossover, with Fran from The Nanny.)

In the 1987 TV movie The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, two opposite ends of history collide when Elroy Jetson’s time machine transports his futuristic family back to the much-less-modern Stone Age. It wasn’t the only time the Flintstone family met some incongruous toons: a cartoon version of the Bewitched crew briefly served as their next-door neighbors in 1965.