21 Secret TV Details That Make These Genius Shows Even Smarter
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1.On The Office, the George Foreman grill that Michael burns his foot on in Season 2 can be seen in the Season 4 episode "Dinner Party" when Michael and Jan show Jim and Pam where they sleep.
If you want more of an explanation about how Michael burned his foot on a George Foreman grill, here it is:
"I enjoy having breakfast in bed. I like waking up to the smell of bacon. Sue me. And since I don't have a butler, I have to do it myself. So, most nights before I go to bed, I will lay six strips of bacon out on my George Foreman grill. Then, I go to sleep. When I wake up, I plug in the grill. I go back to sleep again. Then, I wake up to the smell of crackling bacon. It is delicious; it's good for me; it's the perfect way to start the day. Today, I got up, I stepped onto the grill, and it clamped down on my foot. That's it. I don't see what's so hard to believe about that."
2.When Loki crashes into the desert in Loki Episode One, "Glorious Purpose," it's an homage to when Tony Stark crashed into the desert in Iron Man.
When Tony Stark crashed, he was wearing his first-ever Iron Man suit.
3.The neighborhood in The Good Place is named 12358W for a reason: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 is part of the Fibonacci sequence.
4.In the finale of I May Destroy You, Arabella dances with her past self from the first episode.
5.In a Series 5 episode of Taskmaster — a British comedy/game show everyone should watch — Alex Horne, who's basically one of the hosts, is replaced by a fake Alex for a moment.
The premise of Taskmaster is that comedians complete various outlandish tasks and then get judged for the way they did it. Earlier in the episode with Fake Alex, one of the tasks had been a real-life "spot the difference" challenge in which someone else took Alex's place in, like, a still-life scene.
By replacing Alex in the studio, the show was giving us our own "spot the difference."
6.Walter White from Breaking Bad crosses paths with his pants from the pilot in Season 5.
7.On The Office, Michael's girlfriend Carol — who broke up with him because he photoshopped himself into a picture of her family — has a tiny cameo in Threat Level Midnight. She's the realtor of the house Michael Scarn "lives" in.
Just for kicks, here's the photo Michael photoshopped.
8.Childish Gambino's album Awaken, My Love! was in an episode of Atlanta — a show created by and starring Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino — before the album dropped.
The episode, "Juneteenth," aired on October 25, 2016. Awaken, My Love! didn't come out until December 2, 2016.
9.In the theme song of WandaVision's first episode, "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience," there is an homage to the theme song of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Vision almost trips over a chair while carrying Wanda and Rob Petrie — Dick Van Dyke's character in his show — would trip or almost trip over an ottoman in his opening credits.
The Dick Van Dyke Show explicitly comes up later in WandaVision when we see a young Wanda and her family watching the episode "It May Look Like a Walnut."
10.Garol from Broad City — you know, the person Abbi speaks to on North Brother Island — shows up two more times in later seasons.
Garol was played by Virginia Robinson, who passed away in 2018.
11.On The Office, Pam uses Jim's teapot gift later in the Finer Things Club.
12.In the second episode of Loki, the titular character looks at a file about events that took place during the film Thor: Ragnarok. The code name for the events is "REVENGERS," which is the team name in the movie for the misfit group that consists of Loki, Thor, Valkyrie, and the Hulk.
13.Then we have, of course, the Magna Doodle board on Friends. There were fun and different drawings or messages throughout the show.
I believe the last of the ones above — the "I heart NY" one — was in the first Friends episode filmed after September 11, 2001.
14.Another Taskmaster Easter egg: In Series 6, the two host figures, "taskmaster" Greg and his "assistant" Alex, wear matching socks in every episode.
I am a Taskmaster fiend, and I never noticed this.
15.On Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman says his best-case scenario for the future, and on Better Call Saul, we see that scenario come true.
16.Remember that time Michael, Dwight, and Jim drove to the Utica branch on The Office and Michael and Dwight tried to steal the copier? Well, the Utica copier is padlocked when we see it in Season 5.
17.In a Season 8 episode of Frasier, damage caused by Eddie the dog can be seen on the "Welcome Home Daphne" banner. Eddie clearly ran over the sign when the paint/ink was still wet.
Here's the banner up close.
18.Michael Scott's "World's Best Boss" mug from The Office is referenced in The Good Place through the form of an "Existence's Best Boss" mug.
Neil, the one holding the "Existence's Best Boss" mug, is played by Stephen Merchant. Merchant co-created, co-wrote, and co-directed the British version of The Office and was an executive producer of the American version.
Also, The Good Place creator Mike Schur was a writer on The Office and played Dwight's cousin Mose.
19.Last one about The Office: An item at the garage sale is the stuck-to-the-wall painting from when Jim bought Pam their house. So they finally got it off the wall.
20.In the final scene of the Cheers series finale, Sam adjusts a picture of Geronimo, which was a way to honor Nicholas Colasanto, the actor who played Coach and sadly died during the show's third season.
Colasanto had the picture of Geronimo in his dressing room. After he passed, it was added to the set.
21.And finally, bears are referenced in every episode of New Girl.
"Spiderhunt" (Season 4, Episode 17)
I'm serious.
"Big News" (Season 3, Episode 21)
Sometimes bears as a concept are mentioned without the word being said or the animal being shown. Like with the Cubs.
"Heat Wave" (Season 5, Episode 9)
The whole idea is perfect.
"Lillypads" (Season 7, Episode 3)
Thank you once again, New Girl, for making me thrilled to be alive.
"Fancyman, Part 2" (Season 1, Episode 18)
