History TakeThat / LiveActionTV

-->'''Moss:''' We're all going to die!

** ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' had the trading card game Dragon War, which makes a mockery of ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' and dragon-based monsters such as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The cards get turned into a monster which is promptly destroyed by the Power Rangers. Doubles as an example of WereStillRelevantDammit.

* The second-to-last episode of ''Riptide'' had the team helping out an obvious-but-stupid version of ''Series/{{Moonlighting}}'' (the show that beat it in the ratings).

* ''Series/TheMuppets'':

* The short-lived series ''Series/TheBookOfDaniel'' was basically one long Take That on, well, practically everything, but mostly religion, as it concerned a priest named Daniel Webster (yes, really) who has visions of [[Literature/TheBible Jesus]] (yes, ''really''). You'd think that would be more than enough, but the show also gives the priest an alcoholic wife ''and'' a gay Republican son ''and'' a teenage druggie daughter ''and'' an adopted Chinese son who's dating a girl whose parents hate Asians ''and'' a brother-in-law who runs off with church funds and abandons his family ''and'' a lesbian sister-in-law ''and'' a female bishop who is sleeping with Daniel's married father ''and'' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a mother with Alzheimer's disease.]] ...it was basically crystallized UpToEleven smoked through a TakeThat bong.

** ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}'' both take [[AffectionateParody shots at each other]], and HilarityEnsues.

* ''Series/{{MADtv}}'':
** One episode had SantaClaus (played by Michael [=McDonald=]) erasing a kid's memories of himself. Santa remarked that while he was erasing memories, he wanted the audience to forget about a show called ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. In another sketch, Martin Short (who guest starred on ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' and was a cast member on ''SNL'' in the mid-1980s), "Live from New York!" and is told that that's another show.
** In an episode cold opening, George W. Bush (played by Will Sasso) calls for a manhunt against Chris Kattan after seeing ''Film/CorkyRomano''. ''And'' in another episode cold opening, Nicole Parker insults an old man who only came on ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' because he thought Creator/JimmyFallon was a cast member on the show.

* ''Series/JaneTheVirgin'' was NOT subtle with jabs at UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump either before or after the election. The show pulled off a specatular one in "[[Recap/JaneTheVirginS4E15ChapterSeventyNine Chapter Seventy-Nine]]": When Alba becomes a U.S. citizen [[spoiler: she looks at a framed picture of President Trump...which then morphs into a picture of UsefulNotes/BarackObama.]]

* Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, the creators of ''Series/InsideNo9'', have stated publicly that a character in the episode "Thinking Out Loud" (an annoying, demanding vlogger) is based on Elle Darby, an Instagram influencer who was criticised online for asking for a free hotel stay in return for a review; which they considered very entitled.

* The creators of ''Series/InsideNo9'' stated publicly at a preview screening of the fifth series that a character in the episode "Thinking Out Loud" (an annoying, demanding vlogger) is based on Elle Darby, an Instagram influencer who was criticised online for asking for a free hotel stay in return for a review; which they considered very entitled.

*** And [[FoeYay because he missed him.]]

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem "The Sontaran Stratagem"]] has this moment early on where the Doctor is letting Donna fly the TARDIS.[[labelnote:*]]The Doctor's response is so vague that it could reference any person involved with a negative 1980s event; it could be Creator/JohnNathanTurner, Eric Saward, or Michael Grade in relation to the DWU; hell, it could even be a UsefulNotes/ColdWar joke or a joke about the fashion and music. Given how weird this universe is, it might even be a NoodleIncident.[[/labelnote]]

* ''Series/{{Millennium}}'' was apparently the subject of so much ExecutiveMeddling from the Broadcast Standards and Practices that series writer Darin Morgin parodied him in the episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me", with a segment about how a demon drives a Broadcast Standards & Practices guy insane. This eventually results in the hilarious line, "You will not get away with this! The final scene is gratuitously violent! Aliens would not carry an Uzi! They are a superior race and they would not carry or utilize automatic weapons! I will not approve this! ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis I am Broadcast Standards and Practices!]]''"

[[folder:General Examples]]
* [[SoapOpera Soaps]] would often do this to themselves. There are too many examples to list, but an ''Series/AllMyChildren'' character once muttered, "I feel like I'm in the middle of a daytime serial" while trying to referee an argument between his girlfriend and her parents.
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** ''30 Rock'' has also been happy to dance on the corpse of ''Series/Studio60OnTheSunsetStrip'', most notably in their parody of the infamous episode which features Timothy Busfield's Director touring the studio with a writer from the "golden age." ''30 Rock'' cast member Tim Conway as an aged and irrelevant old hand from ''30 Rock'''s past, being led around by Kenneth the Page, while Conway spouts such lines as "We called that the Jew room!" in reference to the writers' room.

** "Creator/LeeMarvin vs. Derek Jeter" delivers a Take That at Liz, which is very shocking given that she's Tina Fey's AuthorAvatar. Liz seems very flippant when the subject of affirmative action comes up, and states that a black co-worker got his job because of his race while as a white woman, she had no such advantage and had to work hard to find success. At the end she is told that she owes her entire career to programs designed to help ''women'', such as Title 9, a revelation that humiliates her.

** When the scientist Dr. Radcliffe creates an android that, [[AIIsACrapShoot surprise surprise]], goes rogue, we get this between Yo Yo and Mack:

* ''Series/AmericanGods2017'': The [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic self-appointed border patrol thugs]] murder several devoutly Christian Mexican migrants... along with ''Mexican Jesus''. Which obviously symbolizes that their hate of illegal immigrants is far stronger than all of their supposed Christian values.

* ''Series/TheApprentice'': After UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump called Sir Alan Sugar (who hosts the UK version) a smalltimer, Sugar had the mention of his worth (over a billion pounds) reinstated to the show's opening. This was just weeks before Trump became US President(-Elect), unfortunately for Sir Alan's ego.

** Inverted with a yet another nice ActorAllusion.

** The series took a big swing at ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' this way[[note]]''Deep Space 9'' was alleged by some to have been plagiarised from an early ''B5'' pitch[[/note]], when Ivanova complained about a gift shop on the station: "This isn't some deep-space franchise, this station is ''about'' something!" For added humor, the line was written by Creator/PeterDavid, best known as one of the most talented ''Franchise/StarTrek'' tie-in writers, and he was surprised that Creator/JMichaelStraczynski was actually going to use it.

* In the first two episodes of ''The Best Years'', Dawn was a former teen actress whose never-seen ShowWithinAShow existed solely to poke fun at ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. In one case, it actually parodied a specific ''Degrassi'' episode. When Dawn gets cast as Lady Macbeth in a college play, she can't understand the role at all, and says, "if Lady Macbeth were buying her first bra or discovering the dangers of under-age drinking, I could do this." The producer of ''The Best Years'' worked on ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' for almost its entire run, and a few of the ''D:TNG'' cast has shown up on guest roles — in fact, on The-N's website, Jay from ''Degrassi'' was on one of the clips they showed from Dawn's TV role — so this could be more of an AffectionateParody.

** ''White Bear'', ''Shut Up And Dance'' and to an extent ''Hated In The Nation'' is one to the concept of "justice porn". The protagonists are no saints themselves (the protagonist of ''White Bear'' [[spoiler:abetted in a gruesome child murder]] and the protagonist of ''Shut Up And Dance'' is [[spoiler:a paedophile]]), but it's made very clear that [[HumansAreBastards Humans Are]] {{Knight Templar}}s.

* In the third season of ''Series/BlueMountainState'' all of the college football team's litany of misdeeds (drugs, drinking, hazing, recruiting violations, bribery and more) finally come to roost as the NCAA launches a full investigation. In the middle of it all, Alex openly asks why the NCAA cares so much about punishing the school for messing with their rules when their entire organization would lose the hundreds of millions of dollars a year they make off of the college players who are legally prevented from getting any of that money for themselves.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E12TheSoundOfDrums "The Sound of Drums"]] and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E13LastOfTheTimeLords "Last of the Time Lords"]] clearly flipped the bird at the American government when the Doctor manages to turn back time a whole year to avoid a vast majority of the deaths that occurred... and stops ''just'' short of saving the US president as well; with the Doctor specifying that "everything is back to normal". This aspect is arguably justified in it being clearly established that the TimeyWimeyBall effect that allowed him to do this only kicked in ''after'' the President was killed — however, the President's depiction as a [[StrawCharacter arrogant, buffoonish jackass]] who bore a certain resemblance to a certain then-current President definitely belongs here — and vitriolic comparisons made in that vein on the US DVDCommentary fuel the fire even more.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem "The Sontaran Stratagem"]] has this moment early on where the Doctor is letting Donna fly the TARDIS.[[labelnote:*]]The Doctor's response is so vague that it could reference any person involved with a negative 1980s event; it could be Creator/JohnNathanTurner, Eric Saward or Michael Grade in relation to the DWU; hell, it could even be a UsefulNotes/ColdWar joke, or a joke about the fashion and music. Given how weird this universe is, it might even be a NoodleIncident.[[/labelnote]]

* ''Series/FutureMan'': Creator/BillCosby and Creator/JamesCameron both get it. Josh is shocked to learn in 1969 that Cosby had joked about drugging women even back then. When his impression of Cosby makes one black student say he almost stopped liking him, Josh says "Get used to it". Cameron is portrayed as completely egotistical, having programmed his house AI to sing his praises in an over the top manner.

* In the ''Series/{{JAG}}'' episode "Tiger, Tiger", A frigate has been taken over by terrorists and Harm and his girlfriend’s ten year old kid is cut off in the hangar.

'''Josh Pendry''': Creator/StevenSeagal in ''Under Siege''. He got the Pentagon on a satellite radio from a life boat.\\

** After ProductDisplacement enforced by General Motors declared the words Pontiac, Trans Am and everything related off limits, the writers responded by having KITT (the lead talking car) praise rival Ford Motor Company's founder's choice of colour.

** In "All Shook Up" (where Sledge goes undercover to find out who's murdering {{Elvis impersonator}}s), Dori tells him he's going after an impersonator from Dallas and before one from Miami. "Between ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' and Series/{{Miami|Vice}}? What a terrible place to be," he comments (all three shows aired on Fridays at 9pm that season).
** "All Shook Up" contains another jab at ''Mr. Belvedere'' with an exchange between the Japanese janitor and Sledge: the janitor says he wants to get home to watch ''Mr. Belvedere'', to which Sledge replies "I guess ''somebody'' has to." [[spoiler: Just to ram the point home, the ''Mr. Belvedere'' fan turns out to be the murderer.]]
* In the second-season premiere of ''Series/{{Smash}}'', the characters read the review of the (disastrous) Boston preview of ''Bombshell''. It says that the musical numbers are great but are sabotaged by Julia's writing. Julia is the MarySue of former showrunner Theresa Rebeck, whose ControlFreak tendencies, particularly in the writing department, were widely considered to have adversely affected the show's first season.

* British TV show ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' did this a few times to ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' in series two. For example a parody of the end scene of ''Return of the Jedi'', except instead of Anakin's body being burned, it was a set of boxes of Star Wars memorabilia. Ironically, George Lucas's company gave the series leave to use music cues, etc to do this with because of the homages and shout outs in the first series.
* In ''Series/SpecialUnit2'', one of the main characters explain to the newbie that every monster legend she has ever heard of is true — [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer except vampires, they're complete fiction]].

'''Dr. Bill Lee''': (yells, from the background) Eureka! \\
'''Dr. Bill Lee''': (as they turn to look at him) One down, twelve to go! \\

* ExecutiveMeddling led to an example during the first season of ''Series/WKRPInCincinnati''. CBS wanted more broad, kid-friendly comedy in the show. Producer Hugh Wilson wrote "Fish Story" to give them what they wanted while showing how wrong they were - a broad farce with silly costumes (Herb in the WKRP "carp" costume fighting the WPIG pig), pratfalls, and contrived explanations. Wilson hated the episode, and wrote it under a pseudonym as the last episode in CBS' initial 13-episode order. The Take That backfired, as [[SpringtimeForHitler the episode got great ratings]], and has always been one of the fans' favorite episodes.
* An episode of ''Series/WonderShowzen'' had a character played by Creator/DavidCross say, "Git-r-done" right before being executed. Two other episodes had the show make fun of redneck humor with David Cross' character dressing similar to his real life rival Creator/LarryTheCableGuy.

* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' aimed a few Take Thats at programme planners, who had irritated the team by moving the programme about in the schedules seemingly at random. Among the brickbats include John Cleese's comment in the second series "I'd like to be in programme planning, unfortunately I've got a degree" and an extended sketch in the third series were penguins were discovered to be more intelligent than programme planners.

** their "Upper-Class Twit of The Year" skit is just one big TakeThat against British politicians

* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' does one to its parent show ''Series/{{Cheers}}''. In the parent show Sam and Diane have a vicious argument only for Sam to ask "Are you as turned on as I am?", to which Diane responds "More!", and [[TheBigDamnKiss they kiss]]. When Frasier tries this when arguing with a coworker, it is met with a horrified "NO!"

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Euron Greyjoy has no problem mocking his elder brother before killing him off. He does this again during the Kingsmoot where he talks about how Balon leadership has only lead the Greyjoys to defeat and nothing to gain.

** The first episode of the series after the [[''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' movie]] had a dim-witted skeptic recommend ''Film/MenInBlack''.

** The police, upon finding out that drug kingpin Stringer Bell is channeling much of the drug proceeds into buying real estate after it's been laundered and become untraceable "Stringer Bell is something worse than a drug dealer. He's a real estate developer."

* Jeremy Clarkson on ''Series/TopGear'' cannot resist a Take That against Al Gore's movie ''Film/AnInconvenientTruth'' (about global warming causing the polar ice to thin) after he and co-presenter James May have successfully ''driven'' across the sea ice to the North Pole. But Clarkson is about as un-PC as they come, and it's part of his charm.

---->'''Dean''' Calm down? I'm wearing sunglasses at night. You know who does that? No talent douchebags.

** "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E08ChangingChannels Changing Channels]]", the episode where the Trickster throws Sam and Dean into different TV shows, contains {{Take That}} to ''Series/CSIMiami''.
--->'''Dean'''" Calm down? I'm wearing sunglasses at night. You know who does that? No talent douchebags.

''[Long pause as it slowly dawns on Dean what Sam means.]\\