There are real TV shows about the making of fake TV shows (“FYI” on Murphy Brown), real TV shows in which characters appear on fake TV shows (Joey from Friends on “Mac and C.H.E.E.S.E.”) and even real TV shows in which fictional characters turn up on other real TV shows (Will and Jack of Will & Grace on the Today show).
But every once in a while, there’s a fictional show within a real show that is so intriguing to the characters on the show that real-life viewers wish the fake show in the real show were real, because they’d watch that fake show, too.
Are you following all this?
One of the latest entries in this must-see-if-only-it-were-real category is “Love to the Third Degree,” a fake reality show glimpsed on Showtime’s The Curse. In the show-within-a-show — hosted by actor Dan Cortese — 15 women vie for the hand of a masked bachelor whose face, unbeknownst to them, was horribly disfigured in an apartment fire.
This show-within-a-show device is nothing new, of course. You thought it started with “Joan Is Awful” on Black Mirror?
The faux shows on the real shows below rise above all the others in TV history. We’d binge them for sure, if only we could.
“It’s Getting Hot in Here” on Ghosts
Lovelorn contestants shed their clothes as the temperature rises on this reality competition, and the randy ghosts of Woodstone Mansion wouldn’t change the channel even if they could. As Thor (Devan Chandler Long) says, “Very good show.”
“Professor Proton” on The Big Bang Theory
It was Sheldon’s (Jim Parsons) favorite science program when he was young, but even Leonard (Johnny Galecki) knows the theme song: “Grab your goggles, put your lab coat on, here he comes, Professor Proton!” The late Bob Newhart won a 2013 Emmy for his smart take on the role.
“Darkness at Noon” on The Good Wife
This satire of bleaker-than-bleak cable cop shows is so engaging that it has its own after-show-within-a-show, “Talking at Noon.” Now that’s meta.
“Inspector Spacetime” on Community
Abed’s (Danny Pudi) favorite program is this Doctor Who–like adventure. “This is the best show I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” he says. Who cares that it premiered in 1962? It’s still, as he would say, “Cool. Cool, cool, cool.”
“MILF Island” on 30 Rock
The “TGS” staff is glued to the season finale of this reality competition featuring “Twenty MILFs, 50 eighth-grade boys, no rules.” Who can resist bikini-clad moms duking it out at Erection Cove? “Holy hot mamas!” indeed.
“Vidas de Fuego” on Ugly Betty
Betty’s papi, Ignacio Suarez (Tony Plana), would never miss an installment of this potboiler. The telenovela is set on a cattle ranch owned by the Riveras — a family so rich, Salma Hayek plays their housekeeper.
“The Valley” on The O.C.
Pampered, pretty Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson) can’t get enough of this fictional send-up of the actual series on which she’s a character! Self-absorption has never been so, well, self-absorbed.
“Miss Sally’s Schoolyard” on Oz
For the hardboiled inmates of Oswald State Correctional Facility, this children’s show is a moment of calm in their violent day-to-day lives. But that’s not why they like the teacher (Whitney Allen) so much. As Busmalis (Tom Mardirosian) explains, “Miss Sally has big bazooms.”
“Invitation to Love” on Twin Peaks
A strange TV soap opera set in a high-rise apartment complex embedded in an even stranger TV drama set in a high-tension logging town, it’s a fixation for residents of Twin Peaks, Washington — that is, when they’re not dealing with murder, mayhem and owls that aren’t what they seem.
“Psycho Dad” on Married... with Children
Of course this would be a favorite of Al Bundy (Ed O’Neill) — he practically is the title character! When it gets canceled, he goes nuts and organizes a network protest. “Honk if you love ‘Psycho Dad,’” one picket sign says. Honk! Honk!
“The Itchy & Scratchy Show” on The Simpsons
An ultra-violent kiddie cartoon about a murderous mouse and cat out to destroy each other, it’s like Tom and Jerry crossed with Saw. With characters voiced by Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer, this show-within-a-show-within-a-show is part of “The Krusty the Clown Show” on the longest-running animated sitcom.
“House of Zombo” on The Munsters
A monster-themed show hosted by a howling ghoul, this one is Eddie Munster’s favorite. But when he visits the set, he discovers that everything about his TV idol is fake — even his fangs! Still, Zombo (Louis Nye) was so memorable that Rob Zombie revived the one-off character in his 2022 Netflix movie based on the classic sitcom.
This article originally appeared in emmy magazine, issue #9, 2024, under the title "Nest in Show."
