Pop Culture Happy Hour - Our Dream TV Crossovers

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

There have been many TV crossovers over the years, but it’s a tricky balance to get right — for every mashup that feels organic, there are plenty more that amount to little other than weird stunts. So we decided to dream up the ultimate TV crossovers: Gilmore Girls and Nashville, Abbott Elementary and The Leftovers, Only Murders in the Building and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and The Bear and Happy Endings.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

TV crossovers, there have been many over the years from the Jetsons meeting the Flintstones to the Abbott Elementary Teachers clashing with the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia crew. And it's a tricky balance to get right. For every mashup that feels organic, there are plenty more that amounts a little other than weird stunts. So what makes a good crossover? And if we were Hollywood writers, which two shows would we want to see come together to make TV magic? I'm Glenn Weldon. And I'm Aisha Harris, and today we're talking about Dream TV crossovers on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. Join me today is B.A. Parker. She's one of the hosts of NPR's Code Switch podcast. Hello,

Parker. Hello. Thanks for having me. Thanks for being here. Also with us is Andrew Limbong. He's the host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast and a reporter for the Culture Desk. Hello, Andrew. Hey, what's up, guys? How you doing? Very, very good. And very glad to be talking about the subject because I feel like we're going to have some really, really fun picks. So our premise, Today is very simple. Each of us is going to cast the crossover special of our dreams, the world-colliding episodes that exist only in our imaginations. And just to be clear, this will not be an exercise in shipping, fictional characters from different TV shows, or at least that's not the primary objective here. We'll save our arguments for hooking up scandals Olivia Pope with Grey's Anatomy's Jackson Avery for another day.

And yes, I thought of that. I feel like it'd be fun, but that's not why we're here to talk about it. them alive. Listen to know, that PSA was my bad. I'm sorry. I made a couple of suggestions. Everyone was like, nah, chill. Yeah, no, no, no.

Andrew's the problem. Yes, we'll reconvene for that on a different episode. But for now, Andrew, let's start with you. I want to know what is a cast that you want to see worlds collide here. Give it to us. All right. So I was thinking kind of philosophically about this, right? And what one wants to achieve with a TV crossover episode that isn't sort of trying

to prove how cool a multiverse can be, right? Because I feel like the most recent stuff I could think of is what the CW was trying to pull with their stuff. And I realized that I think some of my favorite TV crossovers have to do with unrealized potential, right? Anybody who knows me knows that I'm always in some state of rewatching Gilmore Girls. You know, on the couch watching like season three, season four, Gilmore Girls. And there you see the beginnings of the band Hep Alien.

So that's Lane's band, right, that she has with Dave Rangelski and, you know, Zach and all the crew. Anyone who's a fan of Gilmore Girls knows that that band doesn't make it, as one would hope. Spoiler! They try, they try, but they never quite get there. And I was thinking, like, what do I want out of this band? How can we see them sort of excel? And then I was thinking about another musically inclined TV show. Did you guys watch that show Nashville? Sure. You know, it was on ABC back in the day. It started Connie Britton as this, like, super famous country star, and it was like exploring the world of country music at the time. And so I was thinking my favorite era of Nashville was when they were doing like the triple X's, right?

There's Gunner, Scarlett, and Avery. They are a trio of like, you know, kind of Fleetwood Mackey sort of songwriting team. And they perform. And I was like, if Hep Alien, this like local indie rock band can meet up with the folks in Nashville, right? I think they might be inspired to actually go for it. And then I could see Hep Alien writing albums. kind of like what we're seeing in indie rock today from like Waxahatchy or M.J. Lenderman

or like Wednesday that's sort of like country inspired but noisy and still like indie influenced rock music. So that's the dream I want to see. It's a Nashville Gimmel girl's crossover. Oh my gosh. Oh my goodness. Wait, so we're not shipping relationships, but now we're shipping supergroups.

Is that what's happening? Listen, I wouldn't call Hephaelian a supergroup. Shout out to the man. Well, if they were to combine with... I think in my dream, right, Hep Alien maybe like moves to like Asheville, North Carolina, right? There's like a sort of tenuous country scene relationship between Nashville there. And they build a sort of like left of center alt country scene, you know?

Okay, I've watched neither of these shows. Glenn, please wait. I didn't watch Nashville, but I know it had our reputation for being kind of bonkers, especially towards the end. And I worry about tone here. Because Gilmore Girls, I mean, there were bonkers things that happened on it. Characters made really stupid choices on that show. but the tone was cozier, warmer, unless it was a scene with Emily Gilmore, the best character on the show, then it was great. And so you've got cozy warm hitting glitzy bonkers.

Yeah. How do you square that circle? Yeah. That's called pavement, the band. Okay. That is the perfect answer. That's what I want. That's what I'm going.

Wait, no, but I can also see the vision because Lorelai and her family feels almost akin. It's like Connie Brittons and her family. and her family of just like prestige and trying to like step away from your fate as like you know a rich girl trying to thrive i mean i see the vision i just any fantasy where lane thrives is okay with me justice for lane absolutely that is the true goal lane and scarlet joined together make their own little group like scarlet had the most beautiful voice that like tiny australian lady love actress sorry i haven't seen I've seen Nashville in 10 years. It's Primo like hotel TV.

Yeah. That's true. And the songs are great. Yeah. All right. Look, I love this vision for you. I cannot weigh in because I've seen neither of those shoes. But I like it.

It sounds like we're on board with this here. So that's Nashville matching up with Gilmore girls. Look, this is a dream. There are no boundaries here. This is why you support public media. It's to like encourage big thinking, you know. Yes, yes, yes. And who knows, maybe both of those shows.

can get revived and there we go. Everything's going to reboot it now, so it's very possible. Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Andrew. Parker. Hi. This is a real hear me out, okay?

I want to prepare everyone because when I said it to my friends, they said that this was bonkers as well. Okay. Okay. So I know that Abbott Elementary already did a crossover with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But for me, the crossover of the century would be Abbott Elementary and the leftovers. Oh, wow. What? Wow.

Right away, I'm getting a tonal disconnect, but I'm going to let you finish. No, no, no. I did, like, my holiday leftovers rewatch. It still slaps. It ranks even more true after the pandemic. But I will say, if you think of it as like an inside-out situation where you need the joy to reach the sadness and you need the sadness to fit with the joy, I feel like there is a world. So the leftovers, for anyone who hadn't watched it, is a show from 2014 to 2017. It's about how 2% of the world's population just vanishes.

And the world deals with this grief and tries to process. It has like these really existential conversations. And then you have Abbott Elementary, which is a beloved show about like an elementary school and like the hijinks that ensue within Philadelphia. And I just feel like there is a bitter and the sweet that can come together. and I can see, like, Nora Durst, who lost all of her family in the departure, like, I don't know, getting her heart healed a little bit by, like, being a volunteer for a day at Abbott Elementary. I can see, like, Barbara and the Reverend Matt having a conversation about, like, religion. And I can see Jacob falling in with the guilty remnant, which is a group of, like, cult-adjacent people who smoke cigarettes and wear all white and force people to,

like reckoned with the loss that they've just endured. I can see all of that. I just think that, you know, in my mind, it makes perfect sense. Okay. A logistical question. So we meet the folks in Abbott Elementary after the rapture, whatever it is, has happened. So nobody from the current cast has been disappeared, has been raptured up. Knock on wood.

Not even Jacob. Not even Jacob. Maybe Jacob. Also, is the documentary crew still there? Yes. The documentary crew is still there. Okay. So they weren't raptured.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure. their boom mic guy. They lost their boom mic guy, maybe like one, two sound people. But I feel like they slip up and find one of the guilty remnant finally talking in a corner. Like, I feel like this is peak television, y'all. It's big television.

If you see the vision. I see the vision. I'm seeing the janitor play a big part here. I see him smoking cigs and wearing white, but I can also see him be like a sort of enlightened being, you know? I feel like him and Patty would be in cahoots. Right. And I think on Abbott, the principal is clearly ready for this. Yeah.

Ava has her own bunker. But she's also like, y'all good night and good luck. She's safe. Everyone else is like, that's not my business. Yes, yes. Okay. I see the vision here. Again, the tone is interesting.

It would be an interesting mashup, I guess. No, no, no. The other thing to consider is that, like, oftentimes with these crossovers, they cross over into each of their world. And so, like, I guess what they did with Abbott and Always Sunny when they did that crossover was they still kept the documentary style in both the,

Always Sunny and the Abbott Elementary episodes. So would, like, would the documentary still be crewing or would we finally get to see who's behind the camera? That would be my question. Oh, that'd be a good, like, final episode, yeah. That could be interesting. All right. Look, again, these choices are bonkers, but this is fun.

I'm digging it. I did my bad. Thank you, Parker. So Abbott Elementary and the leftovers. Sure. Why not? Let's do that. Okay.

I think it's the proper response. So I'm going to go next and bring my pick. And I will say that, I guess, relative to Andrew and Parker's picks, maybe mine is a little less inspired or at least like less unexpected. The only thing that I could see being the real issue here is the fact that these shows that I've chosen, one of them is fairly recent and the other one is no longer on the air. So like that's the sort of hurdle here. But I think spiritually this makes sense. And I'm going to go with mashing up only murders in the building and Brooklyn. 9-9.

Oh. Okay. Sure. Yes. Yes. Okay. So here's a thing. Brooklyn 9-9 did do a crossover episode with New Girl.

Yeah. It was bad. It didn't make sense. And this is the thing that I come up against when I'm, like, thinking about crossovers and what makes a crossover work. Because the Brooklyn 9-9 and New Girl crossover, it seemed at least that, like, we did this because they were both on at the same time, on the same network, and maybe they both both needed a boost in their ratings or wanted to goose the ratings or whatever. And so they're

like, sure, why not? But like, even though they're both comedies, they're very different energy kind of comedies. Like, one is a workplace. The other one is, you know, friends hang out, the happy endings type of thing. And also, like, one is in Brooklyn and the other one is in L.A. And so they had a very convoluted way of getting the new girl cast, all of the main ones, to New York. And the crossover for the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode, it's just like a cameo from Zoe Deschanel, the star of New Girl, in one scene. And then in the New Girl episode, it's a little bit more integrated. But, like, again, it feels not necessary and did not enhance anything.

I think Brooklyn Nine and Only Murders in the building work perfectly because you've got only murders, which is about solving murders in an Upper West Side apartment led by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, who all happened to live in this building and murders keep occurring. And then Brooklyn Nine, who was just across the bridge, you know, it's not Manhattan. But it's not that far. It's not L.A. I mean, emotionally, it feels far. Yeah.

As someone who lived in Brooklyn for nine years, yes. Emotionally, absolutely. But here's what I'm thinking. So a murder occurs. And of course, the lead characters and only murders band together. They do their thing. It could be any of the seasons. You know, there's been multiple ones. It doesn't matter. But somehow a clue leads them to Brooklyn, which prompts the 9-19 to get involved. Maybe Devine Joy Randolph's Detective Williams is friendly with like Andy Sanber. Jake or she knows Captain Holt. RIP, Andre Bar, that's the other hurdle we have here.

Like, sadly, he's no longer with us. But I can easily see the chaotic theater energy of Martin Shorts, Oliver, like, serving as a great foil to Captain Holt. Maybe, you know, they clash a little bit because Oliver is not as cultured in the same way. He likes theater, but it's not opera. It's not, you know, whatever. Rosa, played by Stephanie Beatrice.

And Mabel, played by Selena Gomez. I could see them bonding through their stoic mannerisms and all that stuff. Jake and Charles, you know, Sandberg and Joe La Trulio, you know, the very funny guys on Brooklyn Nine-9, teaming up with Steve Martin's Charles. I just feel as though it could be a really fun mashup. Didn't we find out last season and only murders that Martin Schwarz character, Oliver, is like from Brooklyn, right? They go to Flatbush because I remember, be like, hey, I grew up there.

Andrew, you would magically find the Flatbush. connection. Yeah, maybe that's in the district. Yeah, yeah. I don't know. It just feels like spiritually these shows would go together very well. Yeah, there's definitely a vibe. Yeah. I can see that. Oliver could be producing a show at St. Anne's Warehouse, and there you go. Someone dies by the water. Yes. I was that on a regular watcher Brooklyn 9-9. Do they actually solve crimes on that show? Yeah, man. They do. Sure. What's their like percentage? I mean. Because like Oliver and crew, they're like five for five or whatever many scenes there. You know, they've got numbers on the board. What are they Brooklyn 99? I mean, they're.

Look, they definitely solve crimes. The crimes are not usually murder. I will say that. It's a comedy. It's usually, you know, thieves and, you know, whatever. It's not as serious as murder. But it doesn't matter. This is a dream.

This is my dream. And I want it. Yeah, I'm just saying maybe they can give them, like, tips on good police work. Absolutely. I love it. I love it. So that is my pick. I would love to see Brooklyn 9-9 and only murders in the building team up to solve a murder.

in the building. Glenn, we're going to turn to you as our final dream TV crossover. I'm sure we will not be disappointed. Give it to us. No promises. I'll tell you, I like the Abbott Elementary Always Sunny approach, which is where the reason for the crossover is logical, it's clean, it's location.

The reason people cross over in real life is location. Back in the 80s, there was a cheers St. Elsewhere crossover because they were both in Boston, clean. And that is only scratching the surface, by the way, because if you Google the Tommy Westfall universe, you're going to have to clear your schedule because that's your afternoon right there. But I thought, okay, location, location, location.

That's the key. Then I figured the bear is set in Chicago. The bear is a restaurant. You get people churning through the front of house, back of house. And Chicago is famously a location for a hell of a lot of TV shows over the years. So who should it be?

It's the bear and is it Kenan and Kel? Is it according to Jim? Is it Chicago Fire, Med, Pedy, Justice, Hope? Is it early edition? Early edition? Early edition is a favorite. Early edition. Nice point.

Family matters. Father Dowling Mysteries. Good wife. Good fight. The Bob Newhart show. Johnny loves Chachi, married with children. Mike and Molly,

perfect strangers, punky bruster, the real O'Neill's, shameless. Webster? Should a cross over with Webster? No. Because you know what the bear needs?

If it really wants people to stop whining every time Emmy season comes around and they submit themselves as a comedy, even though it's not a comedy, if they really want to put that to bed forever, What they need is jokes. Jokes is how you solve that problem. So it needs to cross over with one of the best, funniest, most joke-dense shows that is set in Chicago of recent years.

The bear needs to cross over with the aforementioned happy endings. Happy endings ran on 80 for three seasons from 2011 to 2013. It's about six best friends living in Chicago. That's really the plot. There was the wealthy couple Jane and Brad played by Eliza Coupe and Damon Wayne's Jr., Jane's younger sister Alex, played by Alicia Cuthbert, Alex's ex-Dave, played by Zachary Knighton. And the real heart of the show for My Money, Max and Penny, they were played by Adam Pally and Casey Wilson. There is even a way in that is already, like, planned up on happy endings.

Oh, I know. Dave, the character of Dave, has a food truck called, anyone remember? Stake me home tonight. Stake me home tonight. Oh, that's right, yes. So, right. So maybe Carmi wants to expand. He brings Dave in to run the bear food truck.

And I think we can all agree that on the bear, the Fax, the Fax brothers, are not really pulling their comedic weight. So you swap them out for Max and Penny. Penny does the restaurant's marketing and social media. Max is also there. I don't know what he does. He does whatever the Facts do, which is nothing. And as much as I love Alva Platt on that show, Uncle Jimmy as the key investor, that whole thing is kind of one note. He's always complaining.

He's always threatening. have Jane and Brad buy out his steak, put them front of house because they're both incredibly hot, hijinks and sue. Or maybe the bear becomes their hangout but like the steakhouse was in happy endings, although the bear seems a little too high end for that. I don't know how that works.

I also don't know what you do with Alex in this scenario, but I'm not alone in that because the show didn't know what to do with Alex either. So I join that. Now, I will say after I had planned this all out and I had made every connection, I realized that what really needs to happen is that the bear needs to cross over with Bob's burgers, Not because of location, but because they share a vibe, right?

There is a sense of being overmatched by life. There's a melancholy to both shows. But then I remember that the bear has enough melancholy, so I'm going to stick with my original answer. It's the bear and happy endings. Fight me. I mean, I don't want to. I think this is very good.

Yeah, it's very good. I mean, tonally, it's completely whiplash. There's a reason for that. It's intentional. Yes. And like you said, this show likes to pretend it's a comedy. And when you finally put some comedy in there, it might actually make Karmie a little more enjoyable to be around.

So I like this. I was trying to think of a show that would crossover well with a bear, and I couldn't. And so I like this. This is a good vibe. I mean, we could throw in early edition. We're solving a crime to the newspaper that's happening. Some extortion. That was a paper that got delivered to the door.

You can't do that anymore. Yeah, that's true. You get a news alert. A news alert predicts the future. Another thought that I had while brainstorming this was like, is there a way to mash up Atlanta and insecure? Which I feel like it's kind of a similar, like, insecure isn't quite as zany as happy endings, but I do feel like it's way more of a comedy than Atlanta is.

And granted, they're in completely different cities, which is why I didn't really choose. I was like, I don't know. Would one of them be a cousin? I don't know. Like, it's possible. But yeah, I'm not going to fight you. Is anyone else going to fight him?

No. No. What makes Chicago? such a good place for all of these shows to go. There's something... Keep it cute, Andrew. No, no, no. There's something I didn't tear in about it, like, you rugged about it.

And yet, like, it's not New York, not L.A. Yeah. By the way, that list only scratched the surface. I guess, you know, not having seen it all in one list, I don't think I realize that Chicago is such a home for TV shows. Yeah. And, you know, Chicago's a major city, but it is not on a coast. It is the second city.

Ooh. So, therefore, if you are looking to represent more Americans, you can think this is represent. considered more people maybe can see themselves in Chicago than they can see themselves in the Bronx. This is true. Meanwhile, Baltimore's got the wire and homicide life on the street. This is a, come on.

And that's about it. Come on. Well, I think we all had some pretty good picks here, and we got to, you know, play a little in the fantasy sandbox, and it was very fun. And now listeners must vote for the best one. I'm sorry, I need to get me for this. Oh, my God. Throw up a poll,

you know. Let's see how it goes. Yes, yes. Well, tell us which one you think is the best. And also tell us which shows you'd love to see in a crossover. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash PCH. That brings us to the end of our very, very fun experiment show. B.A. Parker, Andrew Limbaugh, Glenn Weldon. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Listeners, I'm willing to write fan fiction if you want for the leftovers, ab elementary situation as like a boon for you to vote for me. That's cheating. We're going to hold you to that. This episode was produced by Garley Rubin, Kayla Latimore, Mike Katzv, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy.

Audio engineering was performed by Cina LaFredo, and Hello, Kamin provides our theme music. Thanks so much for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris, and we'll see you all next time.