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"Supposedly Cousteau and his cronies invented the idea of putting walkie-talkies into the helmet. But we made ours with a special rabbit ear on the top so we could pipe in some music."

—Steve Zissou, The Life Aquatic

Whenever an oceanographer or marine biologist character must be shown on TV, there is a high chance that they will be based on Jacques Cousteau. They will speak with a French accent when talking about fish.

A similar example would be how every TV terrestrial biologist/documentarian would resemble David Attenborough, or every TV astronomer resembling Carl Sagan^note We give it another five to ten years before they start basing characters off Steve Irwin (without it being a direct parody of him, that is). Compare Wildlife Commentary Spoof, of which this is a component.

Examples

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Advertising

A 2011 series of commercials for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD feature the character Marco LeMonde, "the world's laziest explorer". He follows this trope except for the fact that instead of conducting research out in the field, he goes to the aquarium.
A 2013 advertisement for Sea World features a young boy walking around Sea World while spouting on about how beautiful the ocean is. He's wearing Cousteau's trademark blue button-up shirt and red beanie.

Films — Live-Action

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Cousteau is explicitly mentioned as a rival at one point. (He does not, however, speak with a French accent at all.)
The AM Today segment of The Kentucky Fried Movie features a marine biologist with a French accent talking about the poisonous fish, clearly meant as a Cousteau Expy, and used for all sorts of Boom Mic Gags.

Live-Action TV

The classic The Carol Burnett Show sketch "Jacques Too Close'' staring Havey Korman and Tim Conway.

Music

One of the Bob Rivers Christmas albums include a sketch entitled "The Under Tree World of Jacques Costeau", in which a Costeau impersonator narrates about exploring underneath a Christmas tree, instead of underneath the sea.

Tabletop Games

Not a marine biologist, but the narrator in one of the Wizards of the Coast videos for 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons uses a silly french accent and speaks as though he's describing a "rare species" (D&D Players)

Web Animation

The Demented Cartoon Movie: "Today in ze underwater world, we explore ze territory of ze dreaded bubble fish."

Western Animation

Averted, oddly enough, by the animated series Jacques Cousteau's Ocean Tales, where Cousteau's voice actor is American.
The French-accented narrator from SpongeBob SquarePants.
The Simpsons: Bart Simpson in the The Tracey Ullman Show short "Bathtime".
The French Guy on Sealab 2021, whose lines were always subtitled even though he spoke in Just a Stupid Accent. "For me, ze ocean was a return to the womb."
An episode of Muppet Babies had Gonzo pretend to be Jacques Cousteau.
In Tiny Toon Adventures, Fifi la Fume naturally does one hunting for the "mysterious Sea Minkee (monkey.)" Only slightly subverted in that Fifi stayed high and dry with Plucky and Hamton in the boat while Elmyra does all the chasing.
In the episode of Babar where a sea serpent is discovered in Celesteville's lake, Babar calls in an old friend to investigate�a bird based on Jacques Cousteau who rambles on about "ze astonishing wondairs of ze deep" at every opportunity.
Eek The Cat has a maritime episode centred around one Jaques Le Duck.
The leader of the diving team exploring the Titanic in the Superfriends episode "Terror on the Titanic", right down to the red cap. His divers even call him "Jacques" at one point.