While I am listing these crossovers as non-crossovers, they actually ARE true crossovers of a sort. They're just not the kind that truly link shows as part of the same world. Yes, characters from one show do appear on another show. The only problem is, well, it was only a dream. It's a gimmick used on a number of shows: a character on one show is a huge fan of another famous TV show. They fall asleep and dream that a character from their favorite show comes to visit them or that THEY are a character on the other show. Sometimes they dream that their friends and family are the characters from their favorite show with a couple cameo appearances from cast members of the show in question. The very nature of these crossovers though actually proves the shows in question are NOT part of the same reality. Rather than a full big write up of each and every dream episode, here you'll find a quick rundown of these crossovers. Please note, these types of crossovers are so plentiful that I don't claim this to be a fully complete list. I'll add additional entries as I discover them.
8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter dreams into Three's Company
Season 1, Episode 16: Come And Knock On Our Door
8 Simple Rules starred John Ritter as the father of two daughters trying to deal with, well, that. He had previously starred as Jack Tripper, a guy living with two girls, in Three's Company. Come And Knock On Our Door, the name of the episode, is also the start of the theme song for Three's Company. The episode has Paul's daughter dealing with some romantic fallout over a boy. This leads to Paul dreaming of Three's Company with his daughters as the two girls and Kyle – the boy – in the Jack Tripper role. John Ritter's character found himself playing the role of nosey landlord Mr. Roper. Providing an actual character cameo in the dream fell to Don Knotts reprising his role as the OTHER nosey landlord Mr. Furley. He also did a bit playing himself.
ALF dreams onto Gilligan's Island
Season 2, Episode 2: Somewhere Over The Rerun
ALF dreams he is on Gilligan's Island. Gilligan, The Skipper, The Professor and Mary Ann all appear in his dream.
Baywatch dreams onto Gilligan's Island
Season 2, Episode 16: Now Sit Right back And You'll hear A Tale
Boy, there are a lot of Gilligan's Island "dream" crossovers. But this one is extra unique. Okay, lifeguard Eddie Kramer hits his head and ends up dreaming that he rescues Gilligan and Mary Ann from a desert island. Then, Don Thorpe, a regular character on Baywatch, wins a million dollars and decides to make a movie about the castaways and the Baywatch lifeguards. Then while on a boat tour (uh oh) Mary Ann, Gilligan and several other members of the Baywatch cast (who all fill the other Gilligan roles) run into a storm which strands them, again, on a desert island. Here's what sets this crossover apart. Gilligan's Island was created by Sherwood Schwartz. His nephew Douglas Schwartz was one of the producers if Baywatch. Douglas Schwartz also directed this episode and the episode was written by Sherwood Schwartz son Lloyd J. Schwartz. The plot of the episode also serves as a riff on the behind the scenes of the show as well with Don Thorpe becoming a millionaire and deciding to produce a Baywatch/Gilligan's Island project.
Blossom dreams of The Golden Girls
Season 1, Episode 6: I Ain't Got No Buddy
Blossom dreams that she meets and talks with Sophia Petrillo from her favorite show The Golden Girls
Day By Day dreams onto The Brady Bunch
Season 2, Episode 11: A Very Brady Episode
Ross Harper becomes obsessed with a Brady Bunch marathon on TV and ends up dreaming that he is a member of The Brady Bunch. Half the cast of the Brady Bunch puts in appearances including Bobby, Peter, Marcia, Mike and Carol Brady as well as Alice the housekeeper. The show spoofed the hell out of the Brady Bunch, claiming that all the Brady men were required to get perms and that they were constantly working on their bicycles. Extra bizarre is the fact that while Maureen McCormick appears as Marcia, she was apparently pregnant when the episode was filmed. There's no ignoring it. So they have Ross basically go, "Holy crap are you pregnant?!?!" Marcia throws off a, "Yeah yeah, whatever…" one-liner about it, hurries on with the rest of the scene and it is never mentioned again. I guess the same thing that gave Ross such a weird Brady dream decided to just make it that much stranger. Some ironic twists: six years after this episode Christopher Daniel Barnes who played Ross Harper would end up actually playing Greg Brady in the movie version of The Brady Bunch as well as its sequel. Then he and a number of the other "movie" Bradys appeared in character in a Brady Dream sequence on Wings. And thus the cycle is complete.
Nikki dreams of Married... With Children
Season 2, Episode 1: Technical Knockup
Nikki finds out that if she does not get pregnant fairly soon she might never be able to get pregnant. Even though it is sooner than they'd like, Nikki and her husband Dwight consider having a kid. This leads to the two of them imagining themselves as various TV families including the Bundy's from Married... With Children. Actors David Garrison and Amanda Bearse who played the Bundys' neighbors Steve and Marcy Rhodes appear in the fantasy sequence as their Married..> With Children characters... sort of. Steve is actually renamed Skeve. I've seen this one listed elsewhere as a full on real crossover. Sorry. Just a dream.
Roseanne sorta dreams Gilligan's Island
Season 7, Episode 25: Sherwood Schwartz – A Loving Tribute
This one is extra weird and not quite a "dream" episode but close enough. The episode is a fantasy episode with the various cast members of Roseanne becoming the characters from Gilligan's Island. Then for the end credits joke, the cast of Gilligan's Island and its creator Sherwood Schwartz appear playing the Roseanne characters: Russell Johnson (The Professor) plays Mark, Tina Louise (Ginger) plays Roseanne, Bob Denver (Gilligan) plays Jackie, Dawn Wells (Mary Ann) plays Darlene and Sherwood Schwartz plays… well he plays himself.
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