Although you may have never noticed the connection, there's a compelling case that "Friends," "Breaking Bad," "Seinfeld," "I Love Lucy" and just about every other popular American television show exist within the same universe.
Walter White and Rachel Green are no longer just characters in your pop culture-themed fantasy game of Clue, they're characters that could have bumped into each other on the street.
But this television-changing theory doesn't stop there. Beyond the theoretical connections, it's possible that the 419 affected shows all exist within the dream of an autistic boy from the show, "St. Elsewhere" -- the notion of which is a hated cliche, yes, but could it be the reality of almost every story arc you've ever loved on American television?
The theory is called the "The Tommy Westphall Universe" and hinges on a reveal at the finale of "St. Elsewhere" that the whole show had been in the character Westphall's dream.
Official crossovers between the "St. Elsewhere" universe with other shows, then those shows with other shows, has created an elaborate web of American television.
You can and should thank Keith Gow and Ash Crowe for being the keepers of this theory for over a decade, managing what has become the official website.
Partnering with The Huffington Post, Gow and Crowe published an extensive update of the "Tommyverse" to their television web of compromised shows, which HuffPost illustrator, Alissa Scheller, put into visual form.
If you're viewing this list on a mobile device, use this link to the web that allows for zooming. The complete list of shows is at the bottom of the article.
Gow and Crowe have an elaborate system of rules for what shows can and can't be included in the list, which they shared with HuffPost and can now be seen on their site's latest update. The most far-reaching regulation is that they "do not include any show that is not a narrative live-action program with a shared continuity from episode to episode."
This means cartoons and late-night shows are notably excluded, but it gets far more specific than that. One example: "Episodes where reality shows exist within a fictional sphere are not included (such as the 'X-Files'/'COPS' crossover and the 'Chicago Hope'/'Entertainment Tonight' crossover)."
But despite the elaborate system, the two still doubt their methods from time to time. Crowe told HuffPost that if they were to start over today, they'd exclude fictional products as being the basis for counting a crossover, explaining, "since we started this, there's apparently been a real consolidation in fake-prop companies."
This has led to dozens of shows using the same fake product, so in terms of the chart, "that's become an increasingly complex can of worms," said Crowe.
The original decision to include fictional product crossovers actually comes from the origins of the chart itself. As Gow told HuffPost, "St. Elsewhere" writer Tom Fontana began writing connections between his shows using fictional products and companies.
Fontana wrote a fictional "Weigert Corporation" as an intergral part of both "St. Elsewhere" and "Oz," and, as Gow tells it, "It was that little connection that spawned a thousand other connections -- references to fictional airlines, companies, nods from one series to another."
Over the years, the two have gotten countless emails from fans who found their own connections between shows, invested in the prospect of destroying all television storylines with one theory.
Contemporary television writers have even bought in to Gow and Crowe's theory. Gow said, "I've heard from TV writers who deliberately put in references to draw their shows into Tommy's mind. One TV writer wants to put a copy of the grid on her office wall and put 'YOU ARE HERE' on the show she writes for."
So far, the included shows span from "I Love Lucy" in 1951, to today, with 26 listed shows still on the air.
A few shows are outside of American television such as the British show, "Red Dwarf." According to the duo's notes, the only other non-US shows in the "Tommyverse" are "The 'Degrassi' shows (Canada), 'The Office' (UK), the 'Doctor Who' shows (UK), 'Luther' (UK), 'Jo' (France) and 'Paris Section Criminelle' (France)," which "is the only show not in English in the Tommyverse."
If you notice any other connections, feel free to join in on the madness.
The complete list of shows as provided by Gow and Crowe:
Search for your own favorite to be ruined ...
- 24
- 90210
- 704 Hauser
- Adam-12
- Addams Family, The
- Adventures of Superman, The
- AfterM*A*S*H
- ALF
- Alias
- All in the Family
- All My Children
- Ally
- Ally McBeal
- Alphas
- American Horror Story: Murder House
- Americans, The
- Amos Burke – Secret Agent
- Andy Barker, P.I.
- Andy Griffith Show, The
- Angel
- Anne Sothern Show, The
- Archie Bunker’s Place
- Arrested Development
- Arrow
- Art of Being Nick, The [pilot only]
- As the World Turns
- Batman
- Battlestar Galactica (2003)
- Beat, The
- Becker
- Benson
- Better Call Saul
- Beverly Hillbillies, The
- Beverly Hills 90210
- Beverly Hills Buntz
- Bewitched
- Bill Dana Show, The
- Blansky’s Beauties
- Blossom
- Blue Bloods
- Blue Skies
- Bob
- Bob Cummings Show, The
- Bob Newhart Show, The
- Bold and the Beautiful, The
- Bones
- Boston Legal
- Boston Public
- Boy Meets World
- Brady Brides, The
- Brady Bunch Variety Hour, The
- Brady Bunch, The
- Bradys, The
- Breaking Bad
- Buddies
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Burke’s Law (1963-65)
- Burke's Law (1994-95)
- Burn Notice
- Californication
- Call Mr. ‘D’
- Can’t Hurry Love
- Caprica
- Caroline In The City
- Castle
- Checking In
- Cheers
- Chelmsford 123
- Chicago Fire
- Chicago Hope
- Chicago Med
- Chicago PD
- Chuck
- City of Angels
- City, The
- Civil Wars
- Clueless
- Coach
- Code of Vengeance
- Cold Case
- Columbo
- Community
- Conviction
- Cop Rock
- Cosby
- Cosby Show, The
- Criminal Minds
- Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
- Crossing Jordan
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigators
- CSI: Cyber
- CSI: Miami
- CSI: New York
- D.A., The
- Danny Thomas Show, The
- Day by Day
- DC's Legends of Tomorrow
- Dead Like Me
- Deadline
- Degrassi High
- Degrassi Junior High
- Degrassi: The Next Generation
- Dennis the Menace
- Dexter
- Dharma & Greg
- Diagnosis: Murder
- Dick Van Dyke Show, The
- Diff’rent Strokes
- Different World, A
- Doctor Who (1963)
- Doctor Who (1996) [pilot only]
- Doctor Who (2005)
- Donna Reed Show, The
- Double Rush
- Dragnet
- Dragnet 67
- Drew Carey Show, The
- E/R (1984)
- Early Edition
- Eerie, Indiana
- Eerie: The Other Dimension
- Eli Stone
- Ellen
- Emergency!
- ER (1994)
- Eureka
- Everybody Hates Chris
- Everybody Loves Raymond
- Facts of Life, The
- Family Matters
- Family Ties
- Famous Teddy Z, The
- Fear the Walking Dead
- Fighting Nightingales [pilot only]
- Finder, The
- Firefly
- First Monday
- Flash, The
- FlashForward
- Flying Nun, The
- Frasier
- Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The
- Friends
- Fringe
- Full House
- Fuller House
- Game, The
- Geena Davis Show, The
- General Hospital
- George & Leo
- Get Smart
- Get Smart (1995)
- Gideon’s Crossing
- Gidget
- Gilligan’s Island
- Girl Meets World
- Girlfriends
- Glee
- Gloria
- Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
- Goober and the Trucker’s Paradise [pilot only]
- Good Times
- Grace Under Fire
- Green Acres
- Green Hornet, The
- Hangin’ with Mr Cooper
- Hanging In
- Happy Days
- Harry’s Law
- Hart to Hart
- Haven
- Hawaii Five-O
- Hawaii Five-O (2010)
- Hazel
- Hello, Larry
- Here’s Lucy
- Heroes
- Heroes Reborn
- Hi Honey, I’m Home!
- High Society
- Hill Street Blues
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The
- Hogan’s Heroes
- Home Improvement
- Homicide: Life On The Street
- Honey West
- Honeymooners, The
- Hope And Gloria
- Huff
- Hughleys, The
- I Dream Of Jeannie
- I Love Lucy
- In Plain Sight
- In the House
- Ink
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- It’s Gary Shandling’s Show
- Jackie Gleason Show, The
- JAG
- Jake 2.0
- Jake and the Fatman
- Jeffersons, The
- Jo
- Joanie Loves Chachi
- Joey
- Joey Bishop Show, The
- John Larroquette Show, The
- Journeyman
- Judging Amy
- Julia
- Justified
- K9 and Company [pilot only]
- Karen Sisco
- Kids of Degrassi St
- Killer Instinct
- King Of Queens, The
- Kingdom
- Kingdom Hospital
- Knight Rider
- Knight Rider (2008)
- L Word, The
- L.A. Law
- Las Vegas
- Laverne & Shirley
- Law & Harry McGraw, The
- Law & Order
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent
- Law & Order: LA
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- Law & Order: Trial by Jury
- Law & Order: UK
- LAX
- Leave it to Beaver
- Lone Gunmen, The
- Lost
- Lou Grant
- Love And War
- Love That Bob
- Loving
- Lucy Show, The
- Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The
- Luther
- M*A*S*H
- Mad About You
- Madman of the People
- Magnum P.I.
- Make Room For Daddy
- Make Room For Granddaddy
- Malcolm in the Middle
- Mannix
- Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The
- Married… with Children
- Martial Law
- Mary Tyler Moore Show, The
- Matlock
- Maude
- Mayberry R.F.D.
- Medical Investigations
- Medium
- Meego
- Melrose Place
- Melrose Place (2009)
- Method & Red
- Miami Vice
- Middle, The
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
- Millennium
- Miss Match
- Mission: Impossible (1966)
- Mission: Impossible (1988)
- Mister Ed
- Models Inc
- Moesha
- Monk
- Monkees, The
- Moonlight
- Moonlighting
- Mork & Mindy
- Mrs Columbo/Kate Columbo/Kate the Dectective/Kate Loves a Mystery
- Munsters Today, The
- Munsters, The
- Murder, She Wrote
- Murphy Brown
- My Mother, the Car
- N.Y.P.D. Blue
- Nanny and the Professor
- Nanny, The
- Nash Bridges
- NCIS
- NCIS: LA
- NCIS: New Orleans
- New Andy Griffith Show, The
- New Gidget, The
- New Leave it to Beaver, The
- New York Undercover
- Newhart
- Nick And Hillary
- Nikki
- Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation
- Nip/Tuck
- Norm
- Office, The (UK)
- Office, The (US)
- Once Upon a Time
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
- One Life to Live
- Orange is the New Black
- Out All Night
- Out of the Blue
- Oz
- Paris Section Criminelle
- Parker Lewis Can’t Lose
- Parkers, The
- Party of Five
- Passions
- Perfect Strangers
- Person of Interest
- Petticoat Junction
- Phyllis
- Picket Fences
- Port Charles
- Practice, The
- Prison Break
- Private Secretary
- Promised Land
- Providence
- Public Morals
- Pushing Daisies
- Quantum Leap
- Quincy ME
- Reaper
- Red Dwarf
- Remington Steele
- Rhoda
- Richard Diamond, Private Dectective
- Ropers, The
- Running Wilde
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch
- Sarah Jane Adventures, The
- Saving Grace
- Scorpion
- Secret Life of the American Teenager,The
- Seinfeld
- Shameless (US Series)
- Sierra
- Silver Spoons
- Simon & Simon
- Simple Life, The
- Single Guy, The
- Six Feet Under
- Sleepy Hollow
- Soap
- Something So Right
- Sons Of Thunder
- Sordid Lives: The Series
- Soul Man
- Space: 1999
- Space: Above & Beyond
- Special Unit 2
- Spin City
- Sports Night
- St. Elsewhere
- Star Trek
- Star Trek Deep Space Nine
- Star Trek Enterprise
- Star Trek the Next Generation
- Star Trek Voyager
- Stargate: Atlantic
- Stargate: SG1
- Stargate: Universe
- Step by Step
- Still the Beaver
- Strain, The
- Strange Luck
- Supernatural
- Tabitha
- Tattingers
- Team Knight Rider
- Teen Angel
- That 70s Show
- These Friends Of Mine
- Third Watch
- Three’s A Crowd
- Three’s Company
- Thunder Alley
- Time of Your Life
- Top of the Heap
- Torchwood
- Tortellis, The
- Touched by an Angel
- Trapper John, M.D.
- Tru Calling
- Twin Peaks
- Two and a Half Men
- Two Guys and a Girl
- Two Guys, a Girl and Pizza Place
- Unforgettable
- United States of Tara, The
- Up All Night
- Veronica Mars
- Vinnie & Bobby
- W*A*L*T*E*R [pilot only]
- Walker, Texas Ranger
- Walking Dead, The
- War at Home, The
- Warehouse 13
- Webster
- Weeds
- White Shadow, The
- Whiz Kids
- Wings
- Wire, The
- Without a Trace
- Wonder Woman
- Wonderfalls
- X-Files, The
- You Wish
- Young and the Restless, The
- Young Marrieds, The
Illustration by HuffPost's Alissa Scheller.
CLARIFICATION: This article originally included a quote that incorrectly stated all of the non-American shows in the list. "Red Dwarf" is now included as well.
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