I Want You To Meet An Old Friend Of Mine / Live-Action TV

• Bob Newhart's first sitcom wife, Suzanne Pleshette (in The Bob Newhart Show), showed up in the final episode of his second sitcom (Newhart), where it turned out the whole later series (in which he played a New England innkeeper) was All Just a Dream.
  • Tom Poston, who played George Utley on Newhart, had been a recurring guest star on the earlier show as "The Peeper".
  • One episode of the later show had Newhart's Dick Loudon running into the first show's Mr. Carlin (Jack Riley).
  • Bill Daily ('wacky' neighbor Howard Borden from The Bob Newhart Show) guest-starred as a guest at Dick Loudon's Stratford Inn on Newhart.
• Monk:
  • Tim Daly appeared As Himself in the Season One finale, "Mr. Monk and the Airplane"; he and star Tony Shalhoub previously appeared together in the series Wings.
    • Lampshaded by the fact that Monk doesn't know who Tim Daly is. His assistant Sharona tells him that Daly was on Wings and was the only good actor on the show;
    • In another episode, "Mr. Monk Is On The Air" Steven Weber, also from Wings, appeared. He was not playing himself, however, and no mention of the show was made.
  • In "Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan," Captain Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine) has some friction with New York Police Department Captain Walter Cage (Mykelti Williamson). Williamson and Levine played two fellow LAPD homicide detectives in Heat.
  • Stanley Tucci appeared in the Season Five premiere "Mr. Monk and the Actor", after he and Shalhoub previously played brothers in Big Night.
  • Alfred Molina appeared in the Season Six episode "Mr. Monk and the Naked Man", after he and Traylor Howard (Monk's assistant, Natalie), previously played father and daughter on the short-lived sitcom Bram and Alice.
    • Tucci and Molina's appearances also doubled as a Casting Gag, since they and Shalhoub were the three finalists for the role of Adrian Monk, which ultimately went to Shalhoub.
• All Rise:
  • Alimi Ballard, who co-starred with Peter Macnicol on the show NUMB3RS, appears in the episode What the Constitution Greens to Me.
• Wings:
  • Tim Daly's real life sister Tyne Daly guest starred as a wealthy woman who wanted Brian as her gigolo.
  • Amy Yasbeck's husband John Ritter appeared as her character's sleazy ex-husband Stuart. The two have a long history of playing couples having appeared together in Problem Child 1 and 2 as well as The Cosby Show.
  • Amazingly, their Cosby Show and Problem Child appearances together occurred six years before they even started dating.
• Nash Bridges had a double-header with the episode "Wild Card", reuniting stars Don Johnson and Cheech Marin with their former partners Philip Michael Thomas and Tommy Chong. Thomas's character even made a second appearance in season six's "Out of Miami".
• Two and a Half Men:
  • Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones had guest roles on Hannah Montana, while Hannah stars Miley Cyrus and Emily Osment had individual guest roles on episodes Two and a Half Men (albeit, both episodes during Ashton Kutcher's run).
  • One of the last seasons had Alan's ex-girlfriend Lindsay (played by Courtney Thorne-Smith) dating his ex-wife's Judith's former husband Herb, and while Alan finds himself attracted to Herb's sister, played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley, who worked with Smith on According to Jim. In fact, Paisley said in an interview in TV Guide that Smith actually recommended her for the role.
• The Big Bang Theory: Leslie Winkle, played by Sara Gilbert, is introduced early in the show as a love interest to Leonard Hofstader, played by Johnny Galecki. Gilbert had previously played Darlene Conner on Roseanne, while Galecki portrayed her love interest David Healy.
  • Katey Sagal played Kaley Cuoco's mother in 8 Simple Rules, and then again years later in The Big Bang Theory.
  • William Shatner appears as himself in the episode "The D&D Vortex" and shares a scene with Penny. Penny's actress, Kaley Cuoco, previously appeared alongside Shatner in commericals for Priceline.
• When Brad Pitt appeared on Friends, his character was an old acquaintance of Jennifer Aniston's. However, he hated her and she barely remembered him (which also makes it a bit Harsher in Hindsight considering what happened in real life...)
  • As well as Tate Donovan, who appeared earlier on the same show when he was dating Jennifer Aniston.
    • As well as Julia Roberts, who dated Matthew Perry, and David Arquette, who married Courteney Cox (though technically Arquette appeared well before he and Cox became involved, his character didn't even share a storyline with Cox's character Monica).
    • Bruce Willis also appeared for a guest run, free of charge, after losing a bet to Matthew Perry on the set of their film The Whole Nine Yards. Similarly, Willis' character intimidates Chandler a bit (although moreso Ross, who's dating the daughter of Willis' role) just like in the movie.
• With Lampshade Hanging, Michael J. Fox's last episode of Spin City began with him complaining over the phone to his therapist for sending him to meet with a substitute. He says, "You're almost like a father to me. How am I supposed to have that with some new guy?" and in walks the substitute therapist, played by Michael Gross, who played Michael J. Fox's father in Family Ties.
  • Then the new therapist told him to "pay Mallory on the way out."
  • Another episode had Christopher Lloyd appear as Fox's old mentor, complete with Back to the Future lampshading.
  • And one episode had Meredith Baxter (Fox's mother on Family Ties) as his character's mother.
  • One episode had Tracy Pollan (Fox's wife) appear as an old girlfriend.
  • Fox even did this with himself. In his final episode, his character starts working at the White House. In a letter back home, he complains about some upstart junior senator named Alex P. Keaton.
• On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: Andre Braugher appears as defense attorney Bayard Ellis. When Ellis sees Detective Munch, he does a double-take and asks, "Have we met?" Braugher played Detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street, on which Detective Munch originated. Munch later tells Bayard, "I admire your second act."
• Between the three of them, Stargate SG-1, Andromeda and Farscape pulled this numerous times: Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge both detoured from the SGC to appear as AI Avatars in an episode of Andromeda. Claudia Black's second guest appearance on SG-1 coincided with Ben Browder's introduction to the cast (with, as SG-1 is wont to do, Lampshade Hanging), and with the guest appearance of Lexa Doig (who played the titular Andromeda's several humanoid forms—and is actually married to Michael Shanks).
  • Also, Richard Dean Anderson knew Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis from MacGyver.
  • Michael Shanks was the guest star of one episode of Sanctuary, a show on which Amanda Tapping has the lead role.
  • Michael Hurst, who starred alongside Kevin Sorbo in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys appeared as an AI on Andromeda and told Dylan that they needed to go to a system called "Tartarus", causing Dylan to complain of "deja vu".
• Cast as Peter Hunt, an old flame of Candice Bergen's titular character Murphy Brown, Scott Bakula ended his recurring role on the show by entering an elevator and "leaping" a la Quantum Leap, which series had recently ended.
  • Bakula then showed up as an old flame of Shirley Schmidt on Boston Legal. Shirley is, of course, played by Candice Bergen.
• Scott Bakula also was imprisoned by his Quantum Leap sidekick Dean Stockwell in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Detained".
• Bill Cosby welcomed Robert Culp onto The Cosby Show episode "Bald and Beautiful", reprising their teamup in I Spy. He also welcomed Rita Moreno onto the episode, "You Only Hurt the One You Love", reprising their appearances together on The Electric Company (1971).
  • Years later, Culp would appear on Cosby's next comedy series, Cosby. This time, Cosby's character (Hilton Lucas) dreams that he really is Alexander Scott (Cosby's I Spy character), being asked to come out of "retirement" by Culp.
• Gilmore Girls: In one episode near the end of season 4, Michael DeLuise's character's bachelor party includes his real-life brother, David DeLuise. To top it all off, the Girls are seen watching a movie starring Michael's father, Dom De Luise. All of the above DeLuises have also had small parts on Stargate SG-1 and Seaquest DSV.
  • Michael, Peter and Dom De Luise also appear as siblings and father respectively for David's character in an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun.
• NUMB3RS:
  • Graham Greene (Actor), who previously played a recurring character on Rob Morrow's previous show Northern Exposure, played a first nation chief.
  • Christopher Lloyd, who co-starred with Judd Hirsch on Taxi, guest-starred in season four episode "Graphic" as a famed comic book writer.
  • Scott Cohen, who co-starred on Street Time with Morrow guest starred in the season two episode "Soft Target".
  • Michelle Nolden, who also co-starred with Morrow on Street Time, plays recurring character Robin Brooks, Don's love interest.
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who co-starred with David Krumholtz in 10 Things I Hate About You, guest starred in the season one episode "Sacrifice".
  • Actually occurs within the regular cast as well, as Krumholtz had previously starred in a Broadway show with Hirsch and in Addams Family Values with Peter MacNicol.
• Gratuitous example: Téa Leoni (Mrs. Duchovny) and Garry Shandling appearing in The X-Files as themselves playing Mulder and Scully in a movie.
• In 8 Simple Rules, Cate Hennessey (played by Katey Sagal) encountered an old boyfriend named Matt... who is played by Ed O'Neill, aka Al Bundy.
• Subverted in an episode of Modern Family. O'Neill's Married... with Children co-star David Faustino shows up as an old college friend of Claire's, but he never encounters Jay.
• Smallville:
  • Tom Wopat appeared as an old friend of John Schneider's Jonathan Kent character. Both actors starred on The Dukes of Hazzard. They even had some Mythology Gags: They had them riding around in Wopat's character's car, which looked suspiciously like the General Lee, and even repeated the old Dukes of Hazzard gag of the passenger side door not working and having to climb in through the window. Lex referred to Wopat as Jonathan's "Good Ole Boy", a reference to the Dukes theme song. They even mentioned several Noodle Incidents involving Jonathan and Wopat's character outrunning the local sheriff when they were young!
  • A double helping happened on the same show, when Margot Kidder showed up, playing a colleague of Christopher Reeve's character. While they were never in the same episode, this case also had its own Mythology Gag; when Martha questions whether Kidder's character and Chris Reeve's character ever had a relationship, to which Kidder's character wistfully replies "In another lifetime..."
• Tahj Mowry, younger brother of Tia and Tamera Mowry, guest starred three times on their show Sister, Sister (this is also an example of a You Look Familiar, since he played a different character each time.) They returned the favor by appearing on his show, Smart Guy.
• Super Pumped:
  • Guest Stars Rob Morrow and David Krumholtz, who worked together on NUMB3RS, both appear in the episode "Boober", Joseph Gordon-Levitt guest staring in an episode of the show.
    • Additionally, Krumholtz and Levitt worked together on 10 Things I Hate About You.
• Kung Fu (1972):
  • The show featured an old preacher named Serenity Johnson in a few episodes. He was played by John Carradine, father of show star, David Carradine.
  • The first episode with him also featured a teenage Robert Carradine (David's brother/John's son) as Serenity's mute sidekick, Sunny Jim.
• Boy Meets World:
  • Fred Savage, the brother of Cory's actor, Ben Savage, guest stars as one of their college professors. They previously played brothers in Little Monsters, so in addition to being Real-Life Relative they're also this trope.
  • Eric Matthews' best friend Jason was played by Will Friedle's real-life best friend Jason Marsden. This isn't the first or last time the two of them played a pair of Heterosexual Life-Partners
  • William Daniels plays Mr. Feeny, who teaches the gang through the whole run of the show. In the later seasons, he gets a job at Pennbrook University, and Daniels's real-life wife, Bonnie Bartlett, appears as the Dean. They previously appeared together on St. Elsewhere as a married couple. They end up dating and getting married here too.
• In the Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked, Pam's character gets visits from old friends played by Carmen Electra (Anderson's co-star in Baywatch) and Jenny McCarthy (who appeared with Anderson in Scary Movie 2). McCarthy and Anderson were also Playboy Playmates.
• In the S1 finale of the (surprisingly watchable) Courteney Cox Arquette vehicle Dirt (2007), Jennifer Aniston turns up as a rival tabloid editor. They actually kiss, in front of some people at the newsdesk
• Almost subverted in Babylon 5. When June Lockhart made a guest appearance, J. Michael Straczynski refused to write a scene in which her character meets Lennier, played by her Lost in Space co-star Bill Mumy, as there was no logical reason for the two to meet except for such a joke. However, Mumy himself wanted to do an in-joke about it, and so without permission, he snuck into one of her scenes out of his alien makeup as an extra and gave a quick smile to her.
• In an episode of Coach, Luther (played by Jerry Van Dyke) learns that he was adopted and ends up attending a reunion of his birth family. As he enters he complains to Hayden that there's no way he could be related to any of these people. An unnamed character (played by Dick Van Dyke) chooses that moment to walk conspicuously across the set.
• The Whole Truth:
  • Judd Hirsch, who played Rob Morrow's father on NUMB3RS, guest-starred as a Judge accused of a crime. He did it.
• Adrian Edmondson could have been cast in the Blackadder Goes Forth episode "Private Plane" for the sole reason of appearing against Rik Mayall, his long-time work partner. In their double-act, most of the constant violence (and occasional gay jokes) are directed at Mayall, so it seems too much of a coincidence that Mayall's Flashheart immediately shoots Edmondon's Red Baron and loudly proclaims "What a poof!"
• Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll: Rob Morrow, who starred with John Corbett on Northern Exposure, guest starred in the episode "Because We're Legion".
• What I Like About You brought in (in various episodes spread throughout 4 years): Chelsea Brummet (of Amanda Bynes' first show), Sparkle (from Bynes' film Big Fat Liar), Tamara Mello (of Leslie Grossman's previous show), and three of Jennie Garth's ex-co-stars (Ian Ziering once, Jason Priestly twice, & Luke Perry thrice).
  • Does it count if the two were never on the show at the same time? Because Amanda Bynes was on All That before the complete-cast makeover; Brummet was after the reboot.
    • See below; Bynes guest-starred in a post-reboot episode.
  • On a similar note, All That post-reboot often played around with this, bringing on former cast members as guest stars (and also having a hilarious interaction between guest star Britney Spears and recurring character Thelma Stump, played by Britney's younger sister Jamie Lynn.)
• Amy Sedaris' interview on The Colbert Report for the Strangers with Candy movie should have been one of these, but the character Stephen Colbert wasn't in Strangers with Candy. It turns out in the Report universe, Chuck Noblet was played by Kevin Spacey.
• Spin City's Richard Kind, Michael Boatman, Alan Ruck, Barry Bostwick, Alexander Chaplin, Heather Locklear and of course Michael J. Fox have all appeared in Bill Lawrence's next show, Scrubs.
  • Mandy Moore guest-starred as a love interest to then-boyfriend Zach Braff in season 5.
• Angel co-stars Christian Kane (Lindsey McDonald) and Sam Anderson (his evil boss Holland Manners) were reunited in an episode of Leverage. Kane (Eliot Spencer) was part of a con against Anderson's one-episode character and says that they winked at each other on-screen to reference their history.
  • Recently so did Adam Baldwin as an actual old friend, once ins a cameo later in a full episode.
  • Sam Anderson and Daniel Dae Kim co-star in Lost. They don't share a few quips about going from playing evil lawyers to castaways on a weird island?
• Another example with Angel actors: David Boreanaz went from playing the title character in Angel to Agent Booth in Bones. While there, he encountered Adam Baldwin, who played both a fellow FBI Agent (Bones) and a liaison to the Senior Partners (Angel), and Gina Torres, a murder suspect (Bones) and a demoness (Angel). Interestingly, although Baldwin and Torres did not appear in the same episode, both were regulars on Firefly, which was also by Joss Whedon, the creator of Angel.
  • And Bones regular TJ Thyne (Dr. Jack Hodgins) had unnamed guest spots in the final seasons of Angel.
  • From another direction, Bones had a one-off episode in which Bones' second cousin appears. Who else should show up in such a role other than Emily Deschanel's little sister Zooey?
• In Plain Sight stars Mary McCormack, who played Kate Harper on The West Wing. In the second season, her character's sister dates a character played by Joshua Malina. Malina's and McCormack's characters dated on TWW, and there is an odd look when their characters meet. Also, in the same episode, fellow The West Wing alum Richard Schiff guest stars (as The Implacable Rabbi Detective), and he and McCormack share a classic Sorkin Pedeconference through the halls of a hospital at the end of the episode.
• In The West Wing, Martin Sheen offers William Devane the job of vice president. The last time they faced each other in the oval office was in the 1970s, in The Missiles of October, when they played Robert and John F. Kennedy respectively. Both were doing Mayor Quimby accents back then, of course.
• The Buffy the Vampire Slayer fifth season opener was "Buffy vs. Dracula", billed as a battle of the titans. It was a little undercut by Dracula being played by Sarah Michelle Gellar's old flame from All My Children, Rudolf Martin.
• On Arrested Development, David Cross' character goes to a therapist played by Bob Odenkirk, his Mr. Show co-star.
  • In another episode, entitled "Family Ties", Jason Bateman's character meets a woman he thinks is his long-lost sister but turns out to be a prostitute. She's played by his actual sister, Justine Bateman, who's most famous for her role on Family Ties.
• Glee: Jonathan Groff's appearance as Rachel's beau Jesse St. James. He and Lea Michele (Rachel) were co-stars in the Broadway run of Spring Awakening and best friends in real life. An ex of hers, John Lloyd Young, actually appeared in the third episode ("Acafellas") but their characters never interacted.
• Becker, starring Ted Danson, has featured guest appearances from his Cheers co-stars Rhea Perlman, George Wendt and Kelsey Grammer, all of which are subtly lampshaded by means of role-reversal; Perlman plays a happy-go-lucky character to Danson's unhappy pessimist, Wendt plays a barman to Danson's character, and Grammer plays a recovering alcoholic against Danson's Harvard-graduate doctor. In Grammer's case, the two old friends also state that the last time they saw each other was in a bar in Boston.
• It happened a number of times in NewsRadio.
  • In "Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show", Dave's knife-throwing nemesis Throwdini is played by Dave Foley's former and future The Kids in the Hall colleague Kevin McDonald.
  • In "Goofy Ball", Bill's stalker is played by Phil Hartman's former Saturday Night Live colleague Dennis Miller.
  • Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk also made guest appearances; both worked with Andy Dick on The Ben Stiller Show.
• Following the ending of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Alfonso Ribeiro, who had played Carlton Banks, joined the cast of In the House as Dr. Maxwell Stanton. In the finale of that show, Max's parents appear — naturally, played by James Avery and Daphne Maxwell Reid, who had played Carlton's parents. Later a minister appears, played by Joseph Marcell, who had played Geoffrey Butler on The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air. Topping off the gag, Max's father mistakenly gives the minister a drink order, then comments that he "looks like someone we used to know".
• In Bottom, Christopher Ryan — who played the suave Mike alongside series writers-stars Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall in The Young Ones — occasionally shows up as Dave Hedgehog, the decidedly less suave friend of Edmondson's character Eddie. Sadly, Nigel Planer declined the role of Spudgun, thus denying us a full reunion.
• Lindsay Lohan, then-girlfriend to Wilmer Valderrama appeared on That '70s Show as a customer Fez later went out with in season 7.
  • Chris Masterson guest-starred in a few episodes and had at least one scene with Hyde, who is played by Chris' older brother Danny.
• Robert Carradine once guest-starred on an episode of ER where he had a scene with Anthony Edwards detailing all the ways the hospital could be improved. Carradine and Edwards co-starred in Revenge of the Nerds.
• iCarly had an episode where Miranda Cosgrove's real life best friend Haley Ramm play a childhood friend of hers that she hasn't seen in years in the episode "iReunite With Missy".
  • Haley also appeared in the 2005 version of Yours, Mine, and Ours as Miranda's character's step-sister.
• Florence Henderson and Robert Reed guest-starred in separate subplots on an episode of The Love Boat. They meet at the buffet table, look as if they're about to recognize each other, then shake their heads dismissively and go their separate ways.
• In the Kenan & Kel episode "Poem Sweet Poem," Philip (one of Kenan and Kel's school friends) is played by their old pal Josh Server.
• Lisa Edelstein appeared in two episodes of The Good Wife early in season three, playing Celeste Serrano, a former colleague and former lover of Will Gardner, played by Josh Charles. Edelstein also appeared in two episodes of the show Sports Night, in which she played Roberta "Bobbie" Bernstein, a colleague and former lover of Dan Rydell, who was played by Josh Charles.
• An episode of T.J. Hooker has Hooker (William Shatner) working a case alongside his old partner Paul played by Leonard Nimoy. At one point, Hooker saves Paul's life, Paul replying "I owe you one" and Hooker smiles "I said the same thing to you seventeen years ago."
• One episode of CSI had Lea Thompson and Elisabeth Shue opposite one another. They'd previously started out in a series of Burger King advertisements in the early 80s, and also appeared together in Back to the Future Part II and Part III, respectively appearing as Marty McFly's mother Lorraine and girlfriend Jennifer (with Elisabeth replacing Claudia Wells).
• CSI: NY had a few.
  • One of Gary Sinise's costars from the miniseries of The Stand (1994) appeared in the season one episode "'Night Mother," though they had only one brief scene together.
  • Sinise's Steppenwolf Theater co-founders appeared a few times. Terry Kinney played one of Mac's superiors in two season one episodes, and Jeff Perry played a judge in season 6's "Criminal Justice." Sinise's oldest daughter, Sophie, played an eyewitness in that ep as well.
  • More prominently was Mac's boss Sinclair played by Mykelti Williamson, who starred alongside Gary as Bubba in Forrest Gump.
  • Also, Seth Peterson, who had portrayed Melina Kanakaredes' brother in her previous series Providence, appeared in the 2007 Halloween episode, "Boo."
• Dallas had Barbara Eden on for a few episodes as Lee Ann De La Vega. J.R. greeted her first appearance with "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"
• On NCIS, after Abby discovers that she was adopted, she tracks down her half-brother. The actor who plays the brother is Pauley Perrette's real life ex-boyfriend turned close friend; Pauley urged her Twitter followers for months to lobby for him to be cast.
  • McGee's sister is played by Sean Murray's stepsister Troian Bellisario (who is also series creator Donald Bellisario's daughter)
• On NCIS: Los Angeles, Hetty goes to an "old friend" for assistance with an issue involving the Marines; a long past is implied between the two of them, although it hasn't come up before. The character is Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie from JAG, the show that originally launched parent show NCIS and thus all the spin-offs. (co-star Harm makes an appearance in the same episode, but not as an example of this trope).
• Cougar Town got a lot of mileage from the regular and recurring cast of Scrubs, which was also created by Bill Lawrence and featured Christa Miller in a big role. This got confusing when Ted the Lawyer showed up in Cougar Town, and hilarious when Ted stopped by the cul-de-sac and freaked out because everyone looked like someone he used to work with.
  No, it's not just Scrubs in Florida with a lot of wine.
• The Middle has done this with Doris Roberts in a recurring role in its second season and Ray Romano in the third-season premiere. Both were, of course, castmates of star Patricia Heaton previously on Everybody Loves Raymond.
• Supernatural: Paris Hilton guest-starred as a demon taking the form of herself in one episode. She had previously worked with series star Jared Padalecki in the remake House of Wax (2005), and the episode includes a reference to the film.
• Miley Cyrus' Real Life godmother Dolly Parton played the role of Aunt Dolly on Hannah Montana.
• Semi-subverted in Community. In the first season, Anthony Michael Hall guest-starred in a season one episode. Hall previously played the son of Chevy Chase (who plays Pierce on the show) in National Lampoon's Vacation, although there's no real nod between the two within the episode.
• An episode of Burn Notice has Maddy Westen, played by Sharon Gless, form a friendship with a character played by her Cagney & Lacey co-star Tyne Daly.
  • Tyne Daly guest-starred on Sharon Gless's first post-Cagney and Lacey series, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, as a former college classmate of Rosie's who had became a huge Broadway star after graduation. Sharon also appeared in an episode of Judging Amy, of which Tyne was a co-star.
• That's So Raven once had a guest appearance by Kirsten Storms, whose best friend Raven-Symoné played in the first Zenon movie. Ironically, Storms portrayed an Alpha Bitch more in line with the character on another Disney Channel series both starred in in this episode.
• The first episode of The Amanda Show had guest appearances by Josh Server and Kenan Thompson.
• Doctor Who:
  • Jon Pertwee's The Navy Lark co-star Tenniel Evans guest-starred in "Carnival of Monsters". In fact, it was Evans who convinced Pertwee to go for the role of the Doctor and he returned the favour by recommending him for this story.
  • Robert Glenister made a guest appearance as Salateen in "The Caves of Androzani" opposite Peter Davison, his costar in the sitcom Sink Or Swim.
  • Kate O'Mara appeared as nefarious Time Lord the Rani opposite Colin Baker in "The Mark of the Rani". They'd previously co-starred in the drama series The Brothers.
  • Fenella Woolgar, who played Agatha Christie in "The Unicorn and the Wasp", previously costarred with David Tennant in Stephen Fry's Evelyn Waugh adaptation Bright Young Things.
  • Two of Tennant's Blackpool co-stars made guest appearances - Steve Pemberton in "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead" and David Morrissey in "The Next Doctor".
  • Averted in Peter Capaldi's first season as the Doctor, his The Thick of It co-star Chris Addison had a recurring role as Missy's henchman. The two had no prior onscreen relationship, and never even met face to face. Rebecca Front appeared in "The Zygon Invasion" and Tony Gardner appeared in "The Pyramid at the End of the World".
  • Julie Hesmondhalgh, one of many Broadchurch cast members with a DW connection, appeared opposite former Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker in "Kerblam!"
• Wendy McLendon-Covey's old Reno 911! co-star Cedric Yarbrough guest-starred in her new show, The Goldbergs. Oddly, the two didn't really have any interaction.
• Psychoville stars Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton of The League of Gentlemen. One episode features a guest appearance from their League colleague Mark Gatiss, thereby reuniting three of the four members of the troupe.
• On her show That Girl, Marlo Thomas bumped into a priest in a hallway, played by her father Danny Thomas:
  Marlo: "Excuse me, Father"
  Danny: "That's all right, my child."
• An episode of Hawaii Five-0 had Daniel Dae Kim's Lost co-star, Jorge Garcia, guest-star as a conspiracy theorist and Chin Ho's old buddy. The two even talked about an unpleasant camping trip that was like being stranded on an island.
• The Arrowverse loves casting actors/actresses who previously appeared in the following shows;
  • Spartacus series: Manu Bennett (Deathstroke), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Amanda Waller), Katrina Law (Nyssa Al'Gul), Nick E. Tarbay (Captain Boomerang), Liam McIntyre (Mark Mardon), Todd Lascance (Edward Clariss), and Simon Merrells (Gaius Julius Caesar).
  • Prison Break: Wentworth Miller (Captain Cold), Dominic Purcell (Heat Wave), Robert Knepper (Clock King), Peter Stormare (Count Vertigo II), and Chris Vance (Non).
  • The Tomorrow People (2013): Robbie Amell (Firestorm) and (Peyton List) (Golden Glider).
  • Firefly: Summer Glau (Isabel Rochev), Sean Maher (Shrapnel), Morena Baccarin (Gideon), and Jewel Staite (Dr. Bryce).
  • Doctor Who: John Barrowman (Dark Archer), Alex Kingston (Dinah Drake Lance), Colin Salmon (Walter Steele), and Arthur Darvill (Rip Hunter).
  • John Wesley Shipp, Amanda Pays, Alex Désert, Vito D'Ambrosio, Corinne Bohrer, and Mark Hamill are a case of Remake Cameo. They were all cast members of the 90s Flash series, with the latter two both having Role Reprises. Shipp, who played the titular hero in the 90s series, plays the titular hero's father in the current one.
  • Smash: Andy Mientus (Pied Piper) and Jesse L. Martin (Det. Joe West), Jamey Sheridan (Robert Queen) and Jeremy Jordan (Winslow "Winn" Schott, Jr).
  • DC Animated Universe: Mark Hamill, Clancy Brown (Wade Eilling), Michael Jai White (Bronze Tiger), Morena Baccarin, and Michael Ironside (Lewis Snart).
  • Glee: Grant Gustin (Barry Allen), Melissa Benoist (Kara Zor-El), Darren Criss (Music Meister), Victor Garber (Martin Stein), Blake Jenner (Adam Foster), Bex Taylor-Klaus (Sin), Nolan Funk (Cooper Seldon), and Charlotte Ross (Donna Smoak).
  • Homeland: David Harewood (J'onn J'onzz/Hank Henshaw), Melissa Benoist, Morena Baccarin, Jamey Sheridan, and Navid Neghban (Al-Owal).
  • The Vampire Diaries: Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen), Rick Cosnett (Eddie Thawne), Malese Jow (Linda Park), Janina Gavankar (McKenna Hall), and Todd Lascance (Edward Clariss).
  • The Walking Dead: Audrey Marie Anderson (Lyla Michaels-Diggle), Emily Kinney (Brie Larvan), Emma Bell (Emily Nocenti), Chad L. Coleman (Tobias Church), Rutina Wesley (Liza Warner), and Kirk Acevedo (Ricardo Diaz).
  • Smallville: Helen Slater (Eliza Danvers), Dean Cain (Jeremiah Danvers), Laura Vandervoort (Indigo), Lynda Carter (Olivia Marsdin) and Erica Durance (Alura Zor-El).
  • Minority Report: Nick Zano (Dr. Nate Heywood)
• Once Upon a Time frequently cast alumnae (or current actors in a recurring role) from the following shows;
  • Lost alumnae have appeared the most. Those who appeared so far are; Lana Parrilla, Emilie de Ravin (both series regulars), Jorge Garcia, Alan Dale, Rebecca Mader, and Elizabeth Mitchell. Naveen Andrews was also a regular on the Spin-Off show.
  • From The Walking Dead: Sonequa Martin-Green, Brighton Sharbino, and Michael Raymond-James.
  • Sarah Bolger and Colin O'Donoghue both appeared in The Tudors. In fact, the latter actually gave the former her first on-screen kiss.
• The Walking Dead:
  • Several The Wire alumnae have appeared on the show. Those who appeared so far are Chad L. Coleman (Tyreese), Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (Bob Stookey) and Seth Gilliam (Fr. Gabriel Stokes), all in major roles.
  • Quite a number of The 100 cast have appeared both in the show and the spin-off. Those who appeared so far are Alycia Debnam-Carey (Alicia Clark), Brenda Strong (Ilene Stowe), Zach McGowan (Justin), and Nadia Hilker (Magna).
• Tim Allen's latest sitcom Last Man Standing frequently has guest appearances from Home Improvement actors, always with a healthy does of self-awareness.
  • Richard Karn (Al) as Bill MacKenzie in "Attractive Architect," who mistakenly remembers Mike having three sons.
  • Jonathan Taylor Thomas (Randy) has a recurring role John Baker, who Mike really likes and even notes that affectionately calling him "son" feels right.
  • Patricia Richardson (Jill) as Helen Potts, a recently widowed neighbor who causes problems by working with loud power tools early in the morning and makes jokes about how poor a handy man her husband was.
  • Blake Clark (Harry Turner) appeared as the owner of the music club where Eve performed during an open mic night. Unlike the others, there weren't any jokes regarding his previous role.
• Grandfathered managed to get one for each of its leads in its lone season:
  • In one episode, Jimmy (John Stamos) reconnects with an old buddy played by Full House costar Bob Saget.
  • In another, Drake Bell guest stars as a tech entrepreneur who Gerald and Vanessa are meeting about funding their app; he remarks that Gerald reminds him of his stepbrother.
• In Get Smart, Don Rickles, an old friend of Don Adams (Agent Smart) plays one of Smart's old army buddies.
• NTSF:SD:SUV::: There's an episode that features a guest appearance by Robert Picardo, known as the Doctor from Star Trek: Voyager, as the villain of the week. Kove, the boss of NTSF and a regular character, is played by Kate Mulgrew, who portrayed Captain Janeway on Voyager.
• Key & Peele has featured several of the two stars' former colleagues from MADTv. Nicole Parker^note known for her Disney Girl character and her celebrity impressions of Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Ashlee Simpson, Jessica Simpson, and Christine Amanpour appeared on the Les Miserables parody, Nicole Randall Johnson^note known for her character Ka-Son and her celebrity impressions of Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, and Condolezza Rice played Michelle Obama's anger translator, and Will Sasso^note known for his impressions of Randy Newman, Bill Clinton, Mike Tyson and others appeared as a pirate singing a verse in the "Pirate Chantey".
  • In addition, Gary Anthony Williams appeared in the gay marriage planning sketch after both he and Key were on the new Whose Line Is It Anyway?.
• Letterkenny: Prior to portraying Wayne in this 2016 comedy, Jared Keeso played Constable Nick Chartier in the 2014 drama 19-2. Dan Petronijevic, who played JM Brouillard in 19-2, has a recurring role as McMurray in Letterkenny. In the season 3 finale, Adrian Holmes who played Keeso's co-star Constable Nick Barron in 19-2 is introduced as Gail and Rosie's male cousin Bradley.
• Johnny and the Sprites, a children's show featuring John Tartaglia, featured many guest stars who previously co-starred with him in Avenue Q, including Natalie Venetia Belcon as semi-regular Gwen, Jennifer Barnhart as a regular puppeteer on the program and Ann Harada as a real estate developer who wanted to raze the show's setting of Grotto's Grove to make way for a luxury hotel and mall complex.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: In "Interface", Geordi La Forge's parents, Capt. Silva and Commander Edward La Forge, are played by Madge Sinclair and Ben Vereen, who costarred with LeVar Burton in Roots (1977).
• George Cole was reunited with his Minder costar Dennis Waterman when he made a guest appearance on New Tricks. Sadly, John Thaw died before the series was made, thus denying us the chance of seeing Regan and Carter reunited.
• Jayne Eastwood, who played Doris Helga Boonswaddle on Shining Time Station, appeared again in Rick Sigglekow's other children's series The Noddy Shop as Aunt Agatha.
  • James Rankin (who puppeteered Johnny Crawfish, Sherman Turtle, and Planet Pup) and Dan Redican (who played Officer Carol Spiffy) would later appear together in Puppets Who Kill. Before Noddy, they both appeared in Freaky Stories and Groundling Marsh.
  • Rick Sigglekow and Alyson Court also worked on the American adaptation of Tweenies.
  • Aunt Agatha and two of her family members (Marc Donato, who played her nephew Dewey, and Lauren Collins, who played her niece Roxanne) appeared together in Degrassi: The Next Generation.
• Castle has an episode where Nathan Fillion's Firefly co-star Adam Baldwin appears. Given the number of Firefly references elsewhere on Castle, the absence of references in that episodes was quite conspicuous.
• The Nanny: Several guest actors were friends or former castmates of Fran Drescher.
  • English model Twiggy Lawson and her husband Leigh Lawson appeared in "Stop The Wedding, I Want To Get Off". The show was inspired by Drescher visiting the Lawson family.
  • Dan Aykroyd and Donna Dixon, whom starred with Drescher in Doctor Detroit and also got engaged at her home, appeared in the episodes "Sunday In The Park With Fran" and "Having Her Baby", respectively.
  • Michael McKean, whom she starred with in This is Spın̈al Tap, appeared in "Franny And The Professor".
• The Incredible Hulk (1977) had two:
  • Episode 1.07, "747," reunited Bill Bixby with his former tv son, Brandon Cruz from The Courtship of Eddie's Father.
  • Episode 3.05, "My Favorite Magician," featured Bix's My Favorite Martian co-star Ray Walston, who played both "favorites."
• Carol's Second Act cast Patricia Heaton’s Back To You co-star Kelsey Grammer as Carol’s ex-husband Richard Kenny, introducing him in the first season finale with the intention of recurring in the second season.
• The Mandalorian reunites Pedro Pascal and Emily Swallow, who first met while performing on stage in New York. They met a second time on the set of The Mentalist, when Swallow played Kim Fischer, and Pascal played Marcus Pike. In The Mandalorian, he portrays the title character, and she portrays his adoptive tribe's leader, known only as the Armorer.
• One episode of the Sarah Michelle Gellar vehicle Ringer saw her Buffy castmate Amber Benson make a guest appearance.
• In The '70s, Diana Rigg starred in a short-lived American sitcom called Diana. One episode reunited her with her The Avengers (1960s) castmate Patrick Macnee playing her ex-husband.
• Janda Kembang: Diah Permatasari's co-star in Si Manis Jembatan Ancol, Ozy Syahputra, guest stars in episode 8. The episode is filled with Si Manis references.
• Shrill: Many Saturday Night Live alums make up the cast, somewhat of a given as it is produced partly by Lorne Michaels. Aside from Aidy Bryant being the main actress, Julia Sweeney has a supporting role, and Vanessa Bayer, Beck Bennett, and Ego Nwodim have guest starred.
• The Rookie: Nathan Fillion’s Firefly co-star Alan Tudyk guest starred in an episode and while no blatant references were made, they still have chemistry acting together.
• Tudyk and Fillion are fond of this trope. Fillion appeared in Resident Alien, where Tudyk is the star.
• The creators of How I Met Your Mother loved to do this with the stars of the show.
  • Neil Patrick Harris's co-stars from the Harold and Kumar movies, Kal Penn and John Cho, turn up over the course of the series.
  • They were unabashed fans of Joss Whedon, so not only did they cast Alyson Hannigan as one of the stars, but brought in her Buffy castmate (and husband) Alexis Denisof plays Sandy Rivers. Other Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-stars who also appeared on the show include Seth Green, Tom Lenk, and Danny Strong, the latter who guested as the minister at Marvin Eriksen's funeral. The episode that brought in Lenk also brought in fellow Whedon alum (though not one who had worked alongside Hannigan) Morena Baccarin.
  • Jason Segel's Freaks and Geeks co-stars Samm Levine, Martin Starr and Busy Philipps appeared over the course of the series.
• Elementary: In "Poison Pen", Sherlock Holmes crosses paths with a woman who used to be his pen-pal and Only Friend when they were teenagers. Jonny Lee Miller (Holmes) and Laura Benanti (the pen-pal) had previously appeared on Eli Stone together where their characters dated in college and reconnected as adults.
• The Conners has done this a few times:
  • Dan Aykroyd guest stars in "The Preemie Monologues" as one of the poker buddies of Dan Conner, played by John Goodman. Aykroyd and Goodman previously starred in Blues Brothers 2000 together.
  • Tony Cavalero recurred on the show while he was starring in The Righteous Gemstones with John Goodman.
  • Season 5 had Emma Kenney reunite with two of her Shameless co-stars. Ethan Cutkosky appears in the episode "Parent Traps and Heart Attacks", while William H. Macy guest stars in "Two More Years And A Stolen Rose". The Macy episode lampshades it when Macy's and Kenney's characters meet, as the latter immediately asks him if she knows him from somewhere.
• High School Musical: The Musical: The Series has done this a few times:
  • Andrew Barth Feldman and Roman Banks guest starred in season 2; they were both in Dear Evan Hansen together, making history as the youngest Evan and first Black Evan, respectively.
  • In Season 2, Sofia Wylie's former Andi Mack co-star Asher Angel was cast as Jack.
  • In Season 3, Matt Cornett's former co-star Meg Donnelly was cast as Val. Matt Cornett and Meg Donnelly were co-stars in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 the summer before Season 3 came out in 2022.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
  • Guillermo del Toro appeared as Grandpappy McPoyle after directing Charlie Day in Pacific Rim.
  • Danny DeVito's Amicable Ex Rhea Perlman appears in Season 16 as Dee's neighbor Bertha Fussy.
• In Forever Judd Hirsch plays Henry's son Abe in modern day; when they needed someone to play a younger version of Abe in the flashbacks of "Punk Is Dead", they got David Krumholtz, who had played Hirsch's son in NUMB3RS.
• Goodnight Sweetheart: In "Something Fishie", Gary (Nicholas Lyndhurst) runs into trouble with two "insurance salesmen" gangsters. One of them (Mr. Jones) is played by Kenneth MacDonald, who had a recurring role in Only Fools and Horses with Lyndhurst as Mike Fisher, the barman at the Nag's Head.
• Two of Angus Deayton's former Radio Active and KYTV co-stars, Geoffrey Perkins and Michael Fenton Stevens, made guest appearances in One Foot in the Grave as Patrick's brother and brother-in-law respectively.
• A Touch of Frost: Detective Sergeant Bailey from "True Confessions" is played by Gwyneth Strong, who had previously starred with David Jason in the later series of Only Fools and Horses.

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