Advertisement

8 of TV's most complex shared universes, ranked

Photo credit: FOX/The CW/Gerry Goodstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Photo credit: FOX/The CW/Gerry Goodstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

From Digital Spy

From the MCU to Star Wars to the Whoniverse, shared universes are all the rage these days.

But two or three TV shows inhabiting a shared world is one thing. It's when that number starts to rise that things get complicated. Real complicated.

These are television's most complex shared universes, ranked in order of just how damn convoluted they are.

8. The modern day crime-solvers

4 TV series

Photo credit: FOX
Photo credit: FOX

FOX attempted to cash in on the popularity of popular crime procedural Bones in 2012, but The Finder – starring Geoff Stults as an ace locator of people and things – lasted just 13 episodes.

Bones would later cross over with the network's sunny cop show Rosewood, with Carla Gallo (Bones' Daisy Wick) reprising her role in a December 2016 episode of the sister series.

Rather more improbably, Bones also aired a crossover with the supernatural thriller Sleepy Hollow in 2015, with that show's star Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie appearing in a special two-parter.

7. The '80s crime-solvers

5 TV series

Photo credit: CBS Photo Archive / NBC
Photo credit: CBS Photo Archive / NBC

But there's precedent for detectives on the same TV network pooling resources.

Thomas Magnum met the crime-solving Simon brothers in a two-part Magnum, P.I. and Simon & Simon crossover in 1982, and Jessica Fletcher arrived in Hawaii in 1986 for a Murder, She Wrote crossover.

In turn, 1983 saw Simon & Simon cross over with Whiz Kids, a short-lived drama about school kids who use their computer skills to become amateur detectives, and Murder, She Wrote spun off the one-season wonder The Law & Harry McGraw in 1987, starring Jerry Orbach as a loudmouth private eye.

6. The Simpsons universe

5 TV series

Photo credit: FOX
Photo credit: FOX

Remember the much-publicised crossover between The Simpsons and Family Guy that aired in 2014? By having Homer meet Peter Griffin, it also tied Springfield's first family to Family Guy's spin-offs and sister series, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show.

Further complicating things is 'Simpsorama' – a 2014 episode of The Simpsons which saw the clan interact with Bender, Fry, Leela and the Futurama gang. Now all we need is an episode of Family Guy where Stewie and Brian are transported to the 31st century...

5. The Cheers universe

6 TV series

Photo credit: NBC/Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images
Photo credit: NBC/Chris Haston/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

You'll probably know that Cheers (1982-1993) was followed by the arguably even better Frasier (1993-2004) – but did you know this was actually the classic sitcom's second spin-off?

Dan Hedaya starred as Nick Tortelli (ex-husband of Cheers waitress Carla Tortelli) on short-lived sitcom The Tortellis from January-May 1987.

There was also Wings, another NBC sitcom that ran for eight seasons from 1990 to 1997. Created and produced by Cheers veterans David Angell, Peter Casey and David Lee, it would also feature guest appearances from Cheers characters – including Frasier.

Frasier also appeared in an The John Larroquette Show in 1995, and Cheers crossed over with the medical drama St. Elsewhere in 1985. More on that later...

4. The CSI universe

7 TV series

Photo credit: Ron P. Jaffe/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
Photo credit: Ron P. Jaffe/CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images

This first part is pretty straightforward: the CSI franchise counted four series among its ranks, across a period of 16 years. There was the original CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015), David Caruso hamming it up on CSI: Miami (2002-2012), Gary Sinise furrowing his brow on CSI: NY (2004-2013) and finally Patricia Arquette tackling tech terror in CSI: Cyber (2015-2016).

But there's also William Petersen's appearance as CSI's Gil Grissom in a 2007 episode of Without a Trace, which places the missing persons drama within the same universe. And then there's a 2007 episode of CSI: NY which features a character from the crime show Cold Case.

Most baffling of all, Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer and Angus T Jones all appear as their Two and a Half Men characters in the 2008 CSI episode 'Two and Half Deaths' – which means, yes, that show is also part of the CSI-verse. Bonkers.

3. The DC TV universe

6 TV series, 5 web-series

Also known as the Arrowverse, DC's small-screen shared universe kicked off with Arrow in 2012, with spin-offs The Flash and DC's Legends of Tomorrow following in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

Supergirl was confirmed as part of the 'verse following a crossover with The Flash in March 2016, as was Constantine after Matt Ryan's occult detective popped up in a November 2015 episode of Arrow.

There are also five web-series all set in the same continuity: Blood Rush (2013), Vixen (2015-present), Chronicles of Cisco (2016) and the upcoming Freedom Fighters: The Ray and animated Constantine spin-off.

And there's one last one that's not 100% confirmed: a sequence in The Flash – from 2014's 'Welcome to Earth-2' – briefly shows us glimpses of all the different worlds contained in the Arrowverse... including a shot from a previous 1990s The Flash series. So it's possible that's caught up in this tangled web too.

2. The Dick Wolf TV universe

14 TV series

Photo credit: NBC
Photo credit: NBC

We're into proper mind-boggling territory now.

To start with, since 1990 there have been five Law & Order series – the original (1990-2010), Special Victims Unit (1999-present), Criminal Intent (2001-2011), Trial by Jury (2005-2006) and LA (2010-2011). (Law & Order UK remade US stories, so we're not counting it.)

Law & Order also crossed over with gritty cop show Homicide in 1996, '97 and '99, while Fox cop show New York Undercover (1994-1998) has also been confirmed as part of the same universe, as has 2000's short-lived journalism drama Deadline starring Oliver Platt.

That brings us to eight shows – but then we have Stephanie March reprising her SVU role as Alexandra Cabot in the 2006 series Conviction, and a Criminal Intent crossover with USA Network's In Plain Sight in 2008.

Then you can add all four of the Chicago series also overseen by TV super-producer Dick Wolf – Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Chicago Med and Chicago Justice – with Fire and PD both having crossed over with SVU in recent years.

(To further complicate matters, the character of John Munch – a detective who originated on Homicide – is notable for making playful cameo appearances in a number of other shows, from The X-Files to Arrested Development. Count those and you can add at least another six shows into the mix.)

1. The Tommy Westphall universe

??? TV series

Photo credit: 20th Century Fox
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Okay, this is it. The BIG one. Prepare to have your minds blown.

St. Elsewhere was a pretty standard medical drama that ran on NBC from 1982 to 1998 – but it's the show's final episode that opens up the possibility of the greatest shared universe of them all.

The final scene of 'The Last One' recast the show's actors as different characters, with young Tommy, an autistic boy, seen holding a snow-globe containing a replica of St. Eligius – the hospital where St. Elsewhere was set.

Most fans take this to mean that everything we'd seen up to that point had taken place only in Tommy's imagination.

Which would be shocking enough, except St. Elsewhere crossed over with Homicide in 1998, which means that show also takes place in Tommy's mind. Which means so do all of the TV shows featuring Detective John Munch, including all the Dick Wolf universe series listed above.

Further St. Elsewhere crossovers further expand the Tommy Westphall universe: a crossover with Cheers in 1985 means that show and all of its spin-offs are also included.

"Someone did the math once," said St. Elsewhere producer Tom Fontana in 2002. "And something like 90 per cent of all television took place in Tommy Westphall's mind. God love him."


Want up-to-the-minute entertainment and tech news? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Twitter account and you're all set.

You Might Also Like