A Take That!, like one would do to a Dueling Show, directed at another show on the same network.
If it's directed at the network itself, it's Biting-the-Hand Humor.
Examples:
- On the final telecast of The $20,000 Pyramid, a series of joke subjects were presented on the Pyramid board if, in Dick Clark's words, the show wanted to save a little money. One of them was "Hit Shows on NBC-TV."
- Roseanne: In "Roseanne Gets the Chair", Roseanne and Dan sleep through ABC lineup. When Dan complains that they missed all the shows about black and Asian families, Roseanne counters "They're just like us. There, now you're all caught up." This joke generated controversy because it was deemed an unnecessary, racist attack on shows about minority families.
- Monty Python's Flying Circus
- Episode 28 ends with everyone being hustled off the set to make way for Horse of the Year Show.
- The abortive "Conjuring Today" sketch is followed by a man complaining about TV showing "rubbish like that and Horse of the Year Show."
- The three stars of The Goodies - Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie - were Cambridge contemporaries of Pythons Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Eric Idle (all six wrote for and/or starred in the 1964-73 radio series I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again), while Terry Jones and Michael Palin starred with Garden and Oddie in the (now wiped) 1967 sketch series Twice a Fortnight. As such, the Goodies included several friendly digs at the Pythons when the two series aired together on BBC television in the early 1970s.note
- In "Invasion of the Moon Creatures", Graeme switches on the TV and sees the Monty Python's Flying Circus opening titles, then immediately switches off because he's missed the Moira Anderson programme he wanted to see.
- At the end of The Goodies and the Beanstalk, John Cleese makes a Cameo Appearance as a genie; Tim tells him to push off, at which point he shouts "Kids' programme!" and vanishes. And then Tim traps him in his lamp (a tin of beans) and they all laugh.
- The Goodies' Star Safari Park in "Scatty Safari" includes four groaning Gumbies as an attraction, seen standing in the middle of the road accompanied by John Philip Sousa's "Liberty Bell" march (used as the theme to Monty Python's Flying Circus) as Graeme angrily gestures to them to clear the road.
- In "Cunning Stunts", as Tim and Graeme try to recruit a replacement for the dismissed Bill, one applicant is a brass band (heard but not seen) who strike up the "Liberty Bell" march only to have the door slammed on them as Graeme grumbles, "Ruddy Band of the Coldstream Guards!"
- Radio 4's statistics programme More Or Less, reporting that one of their regular mathematician guests was appearing on BBC One's Winter Wipeout:
Tim Hartford: I hadn't previously seen the show myself, but I now realise it's a bit like Its A Knockout, but without the high philosophical concepts. After watching it, I had one question for David: Why?
- I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue makes frequent digs at Radio 4 stablemates such as You and Yours and Quote, Unquote.
- The gags directed at Quote, Unquote in particular date from a time when the show was one of several alternating in the Clue timeslot, a position it was completely unsuited for (it has now joined other "thoughtful" panel games in the Monday 3pm slot).
Humph: I heard Nigel Rees say something quite funny on Quote, Unquote the other day. It has a Listen Again facility.
- The other mainstay of the Clue slot, Just a Minute, also comes in for some stick, with an entire round parodying it, "Just a Minim". This has got more pointed in the Jack Dee years, with Jack presenting it as an increasingly deranged parody of Nicholas Parsons.
- There was also "The Quiz of Quizzes" which parodied various quizzes from multiple broadcasters, but was particularly vicious towards BBC Two's The Weakest Link. In the Link-style "voting someone off" section, everyone voted for Anne Robinson.
Humph: Tim, why Anne Robinson?Tim: Well, exactly!
- In series 70, episode 6, Richard Osman takes two shots during a "What is the Question" round about Christmas:
Jack: Richard, now, here's the answer: "Doodle, do twenty star jumps, take a shower, punch a pillow".Richard: What should I do when the Mrs. Brown's Boys Christmas special is on?...Jack: Richard, here's another answer: "Hold off for as long as possible".Richard: When the Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special is on, what should I press on the TV remote?
- The gags directed at Quote, Unquote in particular date from a time when the show was one of several alternating in the Clue timeslot, a position it was completely unsuited for (it has now joined other "thoughtful" panel games in the Monday 3pm slot).
- As two shows that hinge on obscure facts, The Unbelievable Truth and QI are delighted when they can catch the other out on something. The fact they have much the same guests just means they have someone to point it out to.
- On an episode of the Radio 4 quiz The 3rd Degree, following a question about Louis XIV, Steve Punt says "And if you want to learn more about that period of history, BBC 2's glossy drama series Versailles ... will be of no help whatsoever."
CBS
- On Match Game '78, McLean Stevenson's daughter Jennifer was brought up on stage. Host Gene Rayburn asked if she knew the name of her dad's new show that fall (it was In The Beginning). She didn't. She was asked if she knew what network it was on. Again, she didn't know. Gene replied "It begins with a 'C'." Jennifer piped up "B.S.!" The audience and panel roared with laughter, and Gene commented "Jennifer...I think you're gonna be in showbiz..."
- In the Reno 911! episode "The Junior Brothers", Junior's response to learning that his father has died as his brothers leave is to change the TV to South Park, as evidenced by "Oh my god! They killed Kenny!" coming from the TV set.
Discovery Kids
- In the Littlest Pet Shop (2012) episode "Blythe's Pet Project," the "My Small Squirrel" scene looks to be a parody of sister show My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic in the title and a character who resembles Rainbow Dash; and early iterations of Strawberry Shortcake in its Sickeningly Sweet dialogue. The characters who see it are in disbelief.
- Bones: Intern Colin Fisher gets fed up and outs himself as a Sci-Fi Geek:
- Family Guy:
- At the end of "Three Kings", Peter remarks "Now stay tuned for whatever FOX is limpin' to the barn with", which was American Dad!.
- In "Family Gay", Peter enters a horse in the Quahog Derby, where all the horses are named after cancelled FOX shows. Peter names his horse 'Til Death (which was then still running), saying that he's going to "shove it down America's throat".
- In the alternate reality in "Meet the Quagmires", it is mentioned that Osama bin Laden was hiding within the cast of MADtv (1995), "the one place no one would look".
- The show has made a good amount of jokes at the expense of fellow animated sitcom Bob's Burgers and its status as a critical darling. One notable swipe occurs in "Trump Guy", where Donald Trump calls it his favorite cartoon, with Peter warning the Emmy voters in the audience to remember that fact.
- American Dad!: In "Jenny Fromdabloc", Roger's "Jenny" disguise involves him using a rubber ball as an impromptu vagina. When he washes it after having sex with Snot, he sees that it's actually a promotional item for Sons Of Tucson, a short-lived series that briefly took over the show's timeslot.
Roger: When was this on? I watch FOX, I never saw this!
- On HBO's The Wire, when Cutty is hospitalized, his roommate is shown watching HBO's Deadwood on his bed monitor.
Roommate: "Ha ha ha, he called him 'cocksucker'!"
Cutty: (muttering) "Damn dense..."
- In the Pilot of Teen Wolf, Scott's mother worries about him having a new girlfriend, and says she won't be on "some show with a pregnant teenager." Teen Mom also airs on MTV.
- The Bullwinkle Show: During the brief period where the show was hosted by a Bullwinkle puppet, the moose often made jokes about Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, which came after the show on NBC's Sunday night lineup.
Bullwinkle: And now, friends, stay tuned for The Bullwinkle Show, which will continue for the next three-and-a-half hours over most of these stations. The Bullwinkle Show is broken into segments, you know; the Walt Disney segment, the Car 54, Where Are You? segment, the Bonanza segment, and many others. So keep tuned, as The Bullwinkle Show presents the National Broadcasting Company!
- Another intro Bullwinkle mistakenly call his program The Loretta Young Show (which ended its run the previous season) before being pulled offscreen, allegedly by NBC president David Sarnoff.
- One animated segment gives us this gem:
Bullwinkle: This is an ethical dilemma fraught with portent.Rocky: What does this mean?Bullwinkle: I dunno, I heard it on Meet the Press.
- Special Unit 2: Da Chief briefs the Naïve Newcomer on reality.
"The monsters of every child's nightmare, they're all real. Except Vampires. Complete and total fiction."
