Nothing screams “what the hell is Netflix?” more than the crossover episode. It was a gimmicky television staple for decades, with Urkel hitting on D.J. Tanner, Batman and Robin teaming up with Green Hornet and Kato, and the St. Elsewhere doctors having a drink at Cheers. (That one, in particular, was a tonal mismatch.) The crossover largely fell out of fashion once people started taking TV seriously, but it’s made a rebound in recent years, at least on Fox, where The Simpsons recently crossed streams with Family Guy and the cast of New Girl will soon drop by Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Fox announced today that its two longest running sitcoms will meet in an episode airing October 11. “The crossover episode has historically been the artistic high point of any show that has dared to attempt it,” New Girl creator Liz Meriwether said. “Maybe you remember Blackout Thursday on NBC, or even further back the infamous Alf/Gilligan’s Island crossover of the late 1980s. New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine will proudly and humbly go where few shows have gone since the 1990s. We know we have big shoes to fill, and we look forward to disappointing everyone. There’s a 50 percent chance Alf will also be in both episodes. But there’s also a 50 percent chance that is a lie.”
No plot details are available, other than the episode will take place in New York. New Girl crossing over with Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes sense in a weird way (Winston is a cop… Jake and Amy are also cops?), and I’m looking forward to Nick being intimidated by Terry’s muscles. But even if the episode’s great, it still won’t be half as memorable as Alf interacting with Gilligan.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
