Strange Minds Think Alike / Live-Action TV

Strange Minds Thinking Alike in live-action TV.

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• 3rd Rock from the Sun was quite fond of this. In one example, Tommy's PE teacher told him to climb a rope and Tommy asked what was at the top of the rope. When the coach tells him the alternative is sitting with the girls, Tommy fails to see how this is punishment and wonders if the teacher is gay. Later on, the teacher complained about this to Tommy's "father" Dick, who replied by asking the same question.
  • Tommy, Sally, and Harry's plans to rob a bank involved distracting a teller by bringing one of the bank's pens up to her and telling her it's out of ink. They fail when they discover the pens are chained down. When they later tell Dick they tried to rob a bank, he says, "You can't do that — their pens are chained down."
  • A Halloween episode has Tommy and Sally flamboyantly dressed as Sonny and Cher. They claim to be dressed as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Mrs. Dubcek later comes upstairs and recognises them...as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
  • In "Hotel Dick", Mary reveals to Dick for the first time that she was fat as a child. His first question to her after learning this is "Fat as a cow, is that how fat?" Moments later, Dick reveals this fact to Sally, who asks Dick the same question word-for-word.
• 30 Rock does this continually.
  • In the episode "SeinfeldVision", Liz defends wearing a wedding dress saying "I don't need society's permission to buy a white dress. Who says this is a wedding dress anyway? In Korea they wear white to funerals." Later on, Tracy sees her in the dress and says "Oh, no! Did a Korean person die?"
  • Justified in one episode, after Kenneth and Liz both independently mention The Pelican Brief as an example of dirty dealing:
    Jack: Why is everyone talking about that movie?
    Liz: It's been playing on Showtime.
  • And used as an episode-spanning Brick Joke effect with "mind grapes."
  • Apparently all celebrities are familiar with the rule of threes, and recognise the same obscure people as celebrities.
  • In "Christmas Attack Zone", while sharing their couple's costume idea for the New Queers' Eve party:
    Paul/Jenna: [in unison]I/you [referring to Paul] dress as Natalie Portman from the movie Black Swan. And I/you [referring to Jenna] dress as former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Lynn Swann. We're Two Black Swans!
  • And in the Season 4 premiere. Jenna finds out that TGS is auditioning new cast members, and with typical self-centered rage she cries "If it's a blonde woman I will kill myself!" Later, when Tracy hears the same news he immediately has the same response.
  • And twice in another fourth season episode: When Jack and Danny need a name for their prank crew, they both simultaneously pick the "most handsome animal on Earth: The Silver Panthers." Jenna and Tracy simultaneously decide to deal with their Kenneth nightmares: "We have to Elm Street this. We have to go to sleep and kill Kenneth in our dreams!"
• ALF:
  • In one episode, ALF thinks the Tanners' neighbor, Mr Ochmonek, killed his wife. Naturally, the Tanners don't believe him, and say, "Remember the time you thought Mr. Litvak down the street was building an atomic bomb in his basement?" (It was actually a pool heater.) After a series of misunderstandings, the episode culminates with a police officer arriving and Mrs. Ochmonek being alive and well. A few clarifications later, as the policeman leaves, Mr. Ochmonek says, "By the way, as long as you're here, officer, there's something I want to report. There's this guy down the street called Litvak... I think he's building an A-bomb in his basement."
  • In another episode, ALF develops chronic ennui and, inspired by the Tanner's psychiatrist friend Larry praising the advice he gave regarding some of the family's issues, decides to study psychiatry as well. This ends up greatly annoying the Tanners, due to ALF suddenly spouting psycho babble at random intervals and at one point, bursting into Willie and Kate's bedroom shouting "Carl Jung was a big weenie head!" and claiming he has proved that Jung's theories are bogus. Eventually, the Tanners with the help of Larry manage to make him realize what he's been doing, and ALF shows this by claiming to now understand a Carl Jung quote relevant to the situation at hand. At which point, Larry says, "Huh. And I always thought Carl Jung was a big weenie head."
• In the Amazing Stories episode "The Family Dog", Ms. Lestrange promises to turn the dog into "a quivering, snarling, white-hot ball of canine terror." Later, when the dog attacks burglars, one exclaims, "He's turned into a quivering, snarling, white-hot ball of canine terror!"
• In an episode of Angel, Fred has made an ominous-looking machine that Wesley says looks "like a spring-loaded decapitation device," which Cordelia counters with, "Or it makes toast." When Wesley later speculates about the contraption to Fred's parents, Fred's father adds, "Or it makes toast." The device does seem to have a spatula attached to it, and several other bits and pieces that do at least suggest the idea of toast. By the way... it is a spring-loaded decapitation device.
• In an episode of Apartment 2 F, Zach is tasked with being a plant at a focus group testing a product called "Ass Clock Pants" and swaying the rest of the group in favor of the product. Not only does another, genuinely unbiased group member enthusiastically praise the absurd product (which is exactly what it sounds like) and nearly get the others on board, she actually uses the blatantly canned-sounding line Zach was coached to contribute to the discussion — calling it "the greatest invention since the cotton gin".
• The Aquabats! Super Show!:
  • Done in the episode "Cobraman!":
    MC Bat Commander: Ah, there's nothing like being a band on the road! The truck stop food, the public restrooms, the lack of showers, it's so awesome!
  • Later, when Carl steals the Battletram:
    Carl: Yeah! We got it! Finally we can go out on tour! Out on the open road! The truck stop food! The public restrooms! The complete lack of showers! It's like heaven on wheels!
• Arrested Development lives and breathes this trope. Sometimes it even stretches out the connected references several episodes or even seasons apart. Often you have to go back and re-watch old episodes to even realize that this trope is being used; Characters often say the exact same thing independently ("I've made a huge mistake", referring to sex as "pop-pop") or say things that are absurdly prophetic ("You won't be hand-fed any more!").
• If you really think about it, the only explanation for why the 1960's TV version of Batman was so reliably able to decipher the Riddler's riddles.
• In The Big Bang Theory episode "The Zazzy Substitution", the similarity of their strange minds allows Sheldon and Amy to play an Alternate History game called Counterfactuals, as they both think it obvious that, among other things, humanity being ruled by intelligent beavers would prevent the invention of the cheese danish.
• In the first season of Breaking Bad Jesse Pinkman complains to Walter White about the poor choice of drug meetup point, suggesting the mall as a much better alternative; when Tuco and his crew arrive to make the trade Tuco immediately comments "Why we out here? Was the Mall closed?"
• Blackadder,
  • In the first season, a messenger arrives with dire news:
    KING RICHARD: What?! Have the Swiss and French made sudden peace with each other at the mountain pass rendezvous, then forged a clandestine alliance with Spain, thus leaving us without friends in Europe unless, by chance, we make an immediate pact with Hungary?
    Messenger: [checks the message] Yes.
    KING RICHARD: As I thought!
  • In Blackadder Goes Forth, Captain Blackadder, General Melchet and Field Marshall Haig all have the same idea to feign insanity: Put your underpants on your head and stick a pencil up each nostril. Justified in that each one of them picked it up first hand after seeing people try it in Sudan. However, Haig and Edmund only saw their attempts—General Melchet knew that each man who tried it was shot for attempting desertion.
• From Bottom, when Richie and Eddie attempt to rub together their one brain cell each by solving a Crossword Puzzle.
  Eddie: Erm... all right, two down... "Fish", four letters, now begins with "X".
  Richie: "X"? —Xylophone, xylophone fish. [Beat]
  Both simultaneously: Nah, it'd sink, wouldn't it.
• In the Boy Meets World episode "Train of Fools", Cory sends away the last cab in the city because he thinks the driver was an imposter and says, "For all I know, he was gonna take us to some warehouse, and cut out our livers!". At the end of the episode, Mr. Feeny returns from vacation in that same cab and also becomes suspicious of the driver and doesn't want to stay in the cab and "risk his liver".
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine:
  • In "The Chopper", Jake instructed Charles to tell the local cops that when they found the missing money, Jake wanted to flip through it and declare "It's all here." Charles had already told them.
  • In "The Last Ride" Jake wanted to make their last case as awesome as possible. Charles asked if they could get matching leather jackets. Jake already had two leather jackets ready to go.
  • This combined with Small Reference Pools in the episode where Pimento's short-term memory kept resetting every few minutes and Jake kept trying to draw a parallel with Christopher Nolan's neo-noir film Memento. No one Jake spoke to (including Boyle, Pimento, and Pimento's doctor) got the reference, but to Jake's chagrin they all immediately recognized it is a "Finding Dory situation".
  • In "Lights Out" Rosa says that firefighters are "just glorified EM Ts who live together and sleep in bunkbeds". Later in the episode Jake gives the exact same description of firefighters.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In "The Zeppo", Xander makes a sarcastic remark about feeling like Jimmy Olsen to Giles. Later, Cordelia mocks him by saying that, with everyone he knows having superpowers, he must feel like...Jimmy Olsen. Xander starts lampshading this, but then cuts himself off with "Mind your own business!"
  • It's also how Drusilla seduces Spike when they first meet — by referring to him as "effulgent", just minutes after he's laughed out of a social gathering for using it in a poem. Of course, she is psychic...
• On Burn Notice, Mike and Fiona are in the garage working on Mike's car when Maddie comes in and mentions that Barry's brother is there to see Mike for a job. Fiona looks startled at Mike; "There's two of them?". Later, when Fiona tells Sam about Barry's brother, he says the same thing.
• The Chosen: Thomas and Matthew both have a habit of number crunching at the drop of a hat, even for rhetorical questions like "What are the odds we run into the angry Pharisee from Capernaum all the way over in Jerusalem?"
• Community:
  • Both Abed and Jeff independently tell Britta she looks like Elisabeth Shue (which she totally does).
  • In "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux", Abed justifies his documentary by claiming that the documentary Hearts of Darkness was way better than the source material Apocalypse Now. When Special Guest Luis Guzman shows up later, he also says "Hearts of Darkness was way better than Apocalypse Now".
  • In "The Politics of Human Sexuality", a security guard catches the girls peeping into Dean Pelton's office to get a look at a naked male prop dummy. Both the security guard and the Dean refer to the incident as a "reverse Porky's".
• Corner Gas does this all the time. Blame it on a lifetime of living in a small town. For example, in the episode where Lacey's ex-fiancé comes to visit, Hank is suspicious of him and tries thinking of ways to get rid of him.
  Hank: Look, I was just gonna suggest a good old-fashioned beating. Or we put on cloaks and pretend to sacrifice him for the crops. You know, scare him off.
  [later, when Oscar and Emma stop by Corner Gas]
  Hank: I just wanted to beat this Steven guy up.
  Oscar: See? Now that's a plan! ...Or maybe get cloaks, and sacrifice him for the crops.
  Wanda: You mean pretend to sacrifice him for the crops.
  Oscar: That's right... pretend...
• On CSI:
  • Grissom gave Catherine a present for her daughter for her birthday, a chemistry kit. A few minutes later, Nick showed up with another present and it was the exact same kit. Grissom comments he got one of those when he was nine, and that he "nearly blew up the house." Nick comes in, saying as he did that he'd gotten one of them when he was nine and "nearly blew up the house."
  • In one episode, a victim had built a volcano for his child's science fair. It turns out both Nick and Catherine have reason to resent Grissom...
    Catherine: I built one of these when I was in fourth grade. First place should've been mine. Ended up losing to a kid with some lame red ant farm. ... [looks at Grissom] That was you!
    Grissom: Something I learned, insects always win.
    [A couple of scenes later]
    Nick: I built one of those once. First place should've been mine...
    Grissom: Gotta let it go, Nick.
• In the Dinosaurs episode "What Sexual Harris Meant", Fran suggests Earl recommend Monica for the treepusher opening at Wesayso. Earl responds, "A female treepusher? That's ludicrous! I'd be a laughingstock!" One Gilligan Cut later, Earl recommends Monica to Mr. Richfield, who exclaims, "A female treepusher!? That's ludicrous! You're a laughingstock!"
• Doctor Who:
  • "Love & Monsters": Elton and the Doctor both independently coin the name "Abzorbaloff" for Victor Kennedy after shooting off several variants.
  • "Partners in Crime": The Doctor and Donna both use the same cover (Health and Safety) to get inside Adipose Industries, and both steal a necklace — without being aware that the other is doing the same thing.
  • "The Sontaran Stratagem" has the Doctor come up with the same "In-tru-da window" pun that Henry van Statten used in "Dalek", which the Doctor was not around to hear.
  • "A Good Man Goes to War" spawned a meta-example, with this Twitter exchange between a viewer, Steven Moffat, and Neil Gaiman (neilhimself) a few days after the episode aired, which revealed River Song is the child of Amy Pond & Rory Williams:
    whitniverse: @steven_moffat @neilhimself #DoctorWho SPOILERS! Does this mean that River was conceived on a bunk bed?
    steven_moffat: @whitniverse @neilhimself Or a ladder.
    neilhimself: [at about the same time] @whitniverse @steven_moffat or on the ladder…
    neilhimself: @steven_moffat @whitniverse That was spooky.
    steven_moffat: @neilhimself @whitniverse I think we accidentally made that canonical.
• This seems to have become a trend on Family Feud ever since Steve Harvey became host in 2010. A contestant gives a slightly off-kilter answer to a question (e.g. "Name something that gets passed around." "A joint."), Steve lays into the contestant with a "What the Hell, Player?" attitude, then is taken aback when said answer is on the board.
  • This happens throughout the show's run. Richard Dawson responded to one by saying "If that answer's up there, I'm quitting." When it was, he threw up his hands and started off the stage.
  • From the British version, Family Fortunes: the question was to name a way of toasting someone. One woman said "over a fire", to which the host replied he'd give her the money himself if it was up there. It turned out twelve people said "grill".
  • This has even happened between contestants of the show, during the "Fast Money" segment ^note  When two members of the winning family attempt to earn points by answering survey questions in 20 seconds, and the second family member can't have the same answer for any question as the first. . In one episode, Steve Harvey asks the survey question: "We asked 100 men, name a place on your body that a doctor might look in with a little flashlight?" The first woman answers: "Butt.". When the next family member comes up, Steve Harvey claims that there is no way that she could have the same answer. She did.
• In the sixth season finale of Family Matters, Steve tells Eddie and Waldo that his parents are moving to Russia to teach at a university. They cruelly and hopefully asks Steve (in unison) if he is going with them. When Eddie passes this news on to Carl and Harriette, they react the same way in unison.
• In the Frasier episode "Roz's Krantz and Goldenstein Are Dead" both Bulldog and Niles — despite being polar opposite character types — have too-revealing "happens to all guys" responses when they hear Roz talk about her elderly friends dying and they interpret it as something else (although Niles seemed to have interpreted his as premature ejaculation rather than The Loins Sleep Tonight).
• Fresh Off the Boat: When Louis rants angrily about his belief that a new neighbor is trying to hijack his friendship with Marvin, Jessica remarks that he sounds like Joe Pesci, much to Louis’s annoyance. Later he goes on a similar rant to Marvin and Marvin makes the same Joe Pesci comparison.
• Friends:
  • In "TOW the Blackout", Chandler gets trapped in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre, and attempts to communicate this fact over the phone to Monica, obfuscating the content of the call by eliminating consonants and front-of-mouth vowels. After Monica fails to make sense of this, Chandler asks him to put Joey on the phone, who instantly deciphers the unintelligible message.
  • Phoebe and Joey are shown to be like this often as part of their role as Platonic Life-Partners. One such case is in the Vegas episode, where Joey is amazed at finding a man whose hands look like his. While the others are understandably confused about him making a big deal over his "identical hand twin", Phoebe seems to know what he's talking about and even gets a little jealous that she hasn't found hers yet.
• In an episode of The George Lopez Show, George refuses to put Max into a remedial class so it would save him the embarrassment of having a dyslexic son. Later, when George discovers that he too has dyslexia, he asks Benny why she never told him and she gives him the exact same reason.
• Get Smart: In "The Nude Bomb", Max's co-agent starts to ask him something, but he interrupts her and explains that while he understands, it's a firm rule of his never to have sex with his co-workers during a mission. It turns out that, yes, that was exactly what she was going to ask for.
• On Gilmore Girls, Jess and Lorelai are frequently shown to be on the same strangely specific wavelength, which is hilarious because they can't stand each other and also because they are unaware of this; their interactions that demonstrate this are when the other is not around.
• On Gossip Girl:
  • When Blair realises that the liquor license she managed to get her boyfriend for his big club opening was a fake, she decides that the best way of getting back into his good graces would be to... call the cops and have them raid the place. Which, it turns out, he had already done already, prompting Blair to conclude that they belong together. I'm inclined to agree...
  • In another episode when they're not dating, during a sting, Blair remarks "I have a plan." Chuck says he's already had it and they go straight away to enact, without even discussing it or checking it's the same idea. And it is.
• This happened frequently on Green Acres, with Lisa spouting some nonsense early on in the episode (often involving a Perfectly Cromulent Word), and another character referencing it again later on, to Oliver's alarm. Just another typical day in Cloudcuckooland, but even Mr. Drucker, the only sane native, was known to get in on this one.
• Hawkeye (2021): In episode three Clint Barton and Kate Bishop narrowly escape the Tracksuit Mafia and flee on the subway. After they collapse into their seats, Kate mentions that once they get back to her apartment they'll need to walk Pizza Dog because he's been cooped up inside for a day. A few seconds later Clint, who can't hear her because his hearing aid is broken, says they should probably walk the dog once they get back.
• In an episode of Home Improvement, Wilson's house is broken into. The thing he's most upset about losing is his African mucus cup, much to Tim's bewilderment. When Tim later tells Al about the break-in, Al's first response is "Oh, no. Did they take his mucus cup?"
  • That's more a case of Al knowing that Wilson prized the mucus cup, so it would be the worst thing for him to lose. Then again, Wilson said it was one of a small number of items stolen, so the thief apparently knew what it was and that it was valuable.
• Occurs frequently on How I Met Your Mother:
  • One of the best examples is how all of the main characters seem to be buddies with a Korean Elvis impersonator, aptly named "Korean Elvis".
  • The best example has to be the episode where a goat takes a dump on Ted's floor. Later, both Robin and Marshall are able to identify the droppings as coming from a goat. "How does everyone know it's a goat turd!?"
• The InBESTigators: A Running Gag in "The Case of the Robot Robbery" is random, unconnected characters all assuming that Patrick is dressed as the woman from the pilates app.
• Intimate: Emil wants to win back his ex and spreads the rumor that he has died, thinking it will lead her to realize she still has feelings for him. When the news reaches Emil's twin brother Oskar and his friend Bruno, they are confused for a second… and then immediately deduce that there's nothing to worry about because Emil is obviously just trying to win back his ex. More of a case of Jerkass minds think alike.
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia uses this a few times.
  • In the episode "The Gang Gets Extreme: Home Makeover Edition", Charlie, in his quest to make a girl a taco-themed bed for which he already has all the supplies for, asks Dennis "What does a little Mexican girl love more than anything in the world?" Dennis immediately responds, "Tacos."
  • In "Mac and Charlie Write a Movie", it is common knowledge that the most underrated actor is Dolph Lundgren.
  • In "The Gang Gets Trapped", Dennis and Dee both respond the same way to Mac and Charlie's idea of starting a leather goods store in Arizona. Dee thinks that the market is too saturated and concludes, "They'll be out of business in a week's time!" Dennis lampshades: "That's exactly what I said!"
  • In "The Gang Dines Out", several different people spontaneously refer to a single soldier as "a troop".
  • In "Thundergun Express", both the gang and a random cop cite the scene where the star of the eponymous film "hangs dong", as one of its biggest selling points.
• Jonathan Creek: In "Daemon's Roost", Jonathan makes a scarecrow of Alfred Hitchcock for a village competition. Everyone else who sees it assumes it is Phill Jupitus, despite it not looking anything like Phill Jupitus.
• On an episode of Just Shoot Me!, Maya is feeling insecure in relation to her adventurous college roommate. Jack tries cheering her up with something he once read on a trip to Chicago: "Sometimes on your way to your dream, you get lost and find a better one." Later in the episode, a weird interview subject repeats the adage and says that he read it "on the wall of a whorehouse in Chicago." At the end of the episode she tells Jack he was right and repeats the thing about finding a better dream, to which Elliot replies, "Didn't I write that on a wall somewhere?"
• In one episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, two of the heroes infiltrate an enemy ship by dressing up in really terrible Mook costumes. When they get caught and everything looks bad, the other three come to the rescue in the exact same kind of outfits.
• Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Crossing over with Unspoken Plan Guarantee, Emu comes up with a plan to defeat the current Big Bad Chronus by circumventing his Pause power. He manages to communicate this plan to Kuroto just by pointing at him with a ridiculously gleeful expression; Kuroto figures out the plan after just a moment's thought. Since Kuroto has become a living computer virus, the plan is to secretly inject him into Chronus' Transformation Trinket so he can disable it from the inside.
• In the Kenny vs. Spenny episode "Who Can Produce The Best Commercial?", one of Kenny's crewmembers laughingly guesses that this will end up with Kenny fucking a pizza or sticking a frozen pizza up his butt or something. Absurdly, this occurs as a natural enfoldment of events halfway through the episode.
• Kickin' It:
  • In the first episode, when Ty tried to convince Jack to join the Black Dragons Dojo, he gave Jack a bo staff, claiming it was the kind astronauts would use, if they used bo staffs. Later, when he entered Rudy's dojo with the staff, Rudy asked Jack where he got the astronaut-style bo staff.
  • In another episode where Ty tried to convince Jack to join the Black Dragons, one of the arguments was the fact the Black Dragon uniform highlighted Jack's eyes. Later, when the Wasabi Warriors saw him as a Black Dragon, Jerry guessed it was for that reason Jack agreed.
• In the Swedish show Kvarteret Skatan, two guys accidentally killed another guy. When they're trying to conceal the body, one of them comments: "Nobody's gonna believe this," to which the other responds, "Perhaps they'll think it's a dead badger." Later on, the guys and their girlfriends passes the body in a car, and one of the women says: "Oh, look there! It looks like a dead badger."
• Last Man Standing had a group of kids go around the neighborhood and egging cars as mostly harmless vandalism. It's mentioned most managed to clean up early except for the Larabees, the Token Minority family. It's suggested that the Larabees might take the egging as racially motivated but Mike quips "I don't think the Klan does a lot of work with eggs." Vanessa felt compelled to talk to them and ended up inviting Chuck and Carol Larabee over for dinner, which was an awkward affair. Mike then explains Vanessa's concern over the egging and Chuck quips "I don't think the Klan does a lot of work with eggs."
• Early on in the Married... with Children episode "Blond and Blonder", in anticipation for her fifth-year high school anniversary, Kelly mentions to her pals that she had written letters to a gal pal over the years, before showing said letters, all bundled together and unsent. When said gal pal shows up, she shows Kelly a bundle of letters she herself wrote without sending, and the two of them exchange their bundles of letters, much to Bud's bemusement.
• Men Behaving Badly:
  • While Gary is having a one night stand and Tony is trying (as ever) to get laid, Dorothy phones them to ask how things are while she's gone. Tony panickedly tries to think up something that isn't the truth. After the phone call, Debbie asks her if something's wrong.
    Dorothy: Well, either he's passed out on the sofa, or he's sleeping with another woman.
  • Later in the episode, Dorothy finally comes back after the other girl has left. Dorothy asks him how the night went.
    Gary: Oh, Tony was sleeping with a girl he picked up and I was passed out on the sofa.
• Happens all the time in The Middleman, and we do mean all the time. Lacey calling Wendy "Dub-Dub" and the Middleman giving her the nickname "Dubbie", "My plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity", "the icy waters of the North Atlantic", and of course:
  "The pirate-themed sports bar with the scantily clad waitresses?"
  Arrr.
• Mr. Young:
  • In the episode "Mr. Mummy", Adam shows up to a Halloween party with no costume, and when Tater asks why, he lies and says he's dress as Dr. Frankenstein, but he didn't have to dress up in anything because "it's Casual Friday at the lab." Later, Derby sees him and tells him "Nice Dr. Frankenstein on Casual Friday!"
  • In "Mr. Candidate", Adam asks how Derby would like to have "newfound power", which Derby misinterprets as becoming a superhero after getting bitten by a radioactive snake. Later, when Tater ponders how to get Derby to behave, he says "I'd call Snake-Man, but I don't know who he is".
• Mystery Science Theater 3000's presentation of Last of the Wild Horses has a good version of TV's Frank read a sign in the film as "DOUBLE CRANCH", instead of "DOUBLE C RANCH". In the main universe, Crow reads the sign the exact same way.
• The Newlywed Game is a game show based around couples trying to guess the same answer to specific questions, and this logic has showed up plenty of times. In one infamous bit, when one contestant is asked how many decades her husband would say his mother has lived, she gives a somewhat inexplicably confident "ten decades". When said husband is asked how many decades his mother has lived, he admits he doesn't know what a decade is, proceeding to do some clumsy mental math — after guessing a decade is 4 years, he uses it to divide 44 years old and ends up with... ten decades. The two earn the points.
• NewsRadio:
  • In a Season 2 episode, Beth tries to invent and popularize the phrase "bitchcakes". Later, when walking into a chaotic situation, Jimmy James claims, "Everyone's going totally bitchcakes today!"
  • Another Beth/Jimmy example has Jimmy offering "Swiss cheese" as an example of an oxymoron, which completely baffles Dave. Later, Beth says that something is ironic, "like rain on your wedding day." Jimmy: "No, no, that's an oxymoron." Beth: "Oh, like Swiss cheese?" Jimmy: "Exactly."
• One Piece (2023): In the very first episode, Zoro asks Luffy why he keeps calling his attacks out loud, to which Luffy replies "All great fighters call out their finishing moves!" Becomes a Brick Joke in Episode 8 where Sanji does the same, and gives the exact same answer when Zoro asks him.
• Our Miss Brooks: In "Trial By Jury" (a Sound-to-Screen Adaptation of "Traffic Court") Miss Brooks leaves her car parked on a hill after it runs out of gas. While Miss Brooks is going to get gasoline, another car nudges her car from behind, causing it to roll down hill and crash into a fruit stand. Miss Brooks runs to reclaim her car, but is accused by a policeman of "speeding, going through a red light, reckless driving, driving on the sidewalk and hitting a fruit stand". Miss Brooks explains she was not in the car at the time. But, in what quickly becomes a Running Gag:
  Mrs. Davis: Connie, why didn't you apply the brakes before you hit the fruit stand?
  . . .
  Walter Denton: Before your car hit the fruit stand, why didn't you put on the brakes?
  . . .
  Mr. Boynton: There's just one thing I can't figure out about that accident though. It's why you didn't slam on the brakes before you hit the fruit stand.
• In the Police Squad! episode "Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)", Detective Drebin asks Dr. Olsen if he can trace a rock that was thrown through a window, and Dr. Olsen proceeds to give a geology lesson. Drebin later confronts the criminals who threw the rock, asking them, "Oh yeah, where did this come from?" They start to give exactly the same geology spiel.
• Psych.
  • A strange double example occurred once. Both times, someone makes reference to a character named Polexia. Both times, someone thinks that person is talking about Anna Paquin's character in Almost Famous. Both times, someone asks "Anna Paquin was in Almost Famous?"
  • Another episode had Shawn worried about his dad (normally a man's man) suddenly showing interest in feminine hobbies and bubble baths. Dad defends himself, saying "John Wayne took bubble baths." When Shawn tries to explain his concern to Gus, Gus also repeats the John Wayne factoid in defense of the bubble baths.
• Red Dwarf:
  • "Back to Reality". Kryten discovers that he's actually Cybernautics Division cop Jake Bullet.
    Kryten: "Jake Bullet: Cybernautic Detective." I like that! That sounds like the kind of hard-living flatfoot who gets the job done by cutting corners and bucking authority, and if those pen pushers up at City Hall don't like it, well, they can park their overpaid fat asses on this mid digit and swivel — swivel 'til they squeal like pigs on a honeymoon!
    Rimmer: On the other hand, 'Mr. Bullet', perhaps the Cybernautics division is in charge of traffic control, and you just happen to have a rather silly macho name.
    [later, when they encounter a murderous secret policeman]
    Kryten: [whips out his badge] Bullet, Cybernautics!
    Secret Policeman: That's traffic control.
  • However, the whole "Back to Reality" scenario is a collective hallucination of the Dwarfers caused by the despair squid, so it's really Kryten who's calling himself a traffic warden rather than a cowboy cop.
  • In "Back To Earth", the sci-fi shop owner is unfazed to have fictional characters walk into his shop, because reality incursions are very common this time of year (Rimmer: "Oh good, he's a nutter"). He phones the head of the Red Dwarf Fan Club for them and says "Yeah, reality incursion... Yeah, that's what I said..."
• The Saturday Night Live skit "You Think I'm The Beast?" has the Beast and Belle each assuming themselves to be the "beauty" of the Beast and Beauty scenario. The Beast reasons that she's too skinny and is hoping she'll transform into a girl with a "big ass." Cogsworth seconds his opinion and they both admit they're hooking up with the shapelier Miss Potts on the side.
  Belle: Okay, okay, freaks, I'm leaving. You know what? Have fun in your ass castle. (leaves)
  Beast: ...How does she know we call it an "ass castle"?
• On Saved by the Bell the gang decides to host a radio station. Everybody is good at it except for Slater. When they discuss how to tell Slater he stinks without hurting his feelings, Screech suggests they wave a skunk in front of him. When they listen to what the people think, they overhear this conversation.
  First Student: Boy, that guy stinks.
  Second Student: Yeah, somebody should wave a skunk in front of him.
• In an episode of Scrubs, Dr. Cox is irritated by Molly's relentlessly optimistic worldview. After she expresses it with an increasingly strained metaphor comparing people to chocolates, he responds that people are actually "bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling." Later, Dr. Cox mentions Molly's attitudes to Dr. Kelso; he doesn't bring up the chocolate metaphor, but Kelso still responds that "people are bastard-coated bastards with bastard filling."
• In Seinfeld, resident wacky guy Kramer justifies his "reverse peep hole" with the fear of someone ambushing him from inside his apartment with a sock full of pennies. Cue the end of the episode, when Jerry discovers his and Kramer's Italian landlord has ambushed Joe Mayo in his apartment with... a sock full of pennies.
  • In "The Yada Yada", Kramer calls Jerry an "anti-Dentite" in response to his animosity of dentist Tim Whatley. Later, Whatley's old teacher tells Jerry "I'd punch your teeth out, you anti-Dentite bastard!"
  • In one episode, after being told that an old man's housekeeper doesn't speak any English, George opts to test this out by saying to her, "I would like to dip my bald head in oil and rub it all over your body," just to see if she reacts to it at all (which she doesn't). Meanwhile, Elaine is meeting with an old woman who talks about having a passionate romance with Mahatma Gandhi in her youth. "He used to dip his bald head in oil and rub it all over my body!"
  • Achieved in "The Puffy Shirt" via a Call-Back to the Unusual Euphemism used by the main cast in the infamous episode "The Contest":
    Man: He could've had any woman in the world, but none could match the beauty of his own hand...and that became his one true love.
    (Long pause.)
    George: You mean, uh..?
    Man: ...Yes. He was not...master of his domain.
  • In "The Gymnast," Kramer convinces Jerry to continue dating an Olympic gymnast he has little in common with for the Power Perversion Potential, telling him, "You stand on the threshold to the magical world of sensual delights that most men dare not dream of!" When they finally sleep together, Jerry is disappointed and resolves to break up with her after a few more weeks, but she dumps him first, being equally disappointed by him: "In my country, they speak of a man so virile, so potent, that to spend a night with such a man is to enter a world of sensual delights most women dare not dream of. This man is known as the 'Comedian.'"
  • In "The Fusilli Jerry," the motor vehicle bureau mixes up Kramer's new license plates with someone else's vanity plates, which say "ASSMAN." The others speculate as to the identity of the "assman," with George assuming it's someone who gets a lot of play and Jerry suggesting that, instead, it's the man's own ass that merits the epithet. Kramer's theory is that it's a proctologist. Guess who's right.
  • When the phone company sends a worker to Elaine's apartment, she starts thinking about killing him, wondering if anyone would notice if he just disappeared. When she says it out loud, he reveals that he was thinking the same thing about her.
  • In "The Finale," Jerry berates George for trying to use the bathroom in his apartment without closing the door, saying they might as well "just have a big pee party." Later, the gang are on trial and the security guard who caught Jerry publicly urinating in "The Parking Garage" appears as a character witness against them: "I wonder if they're having any trouble controlling themselves during this trial? Perhaps these two hooligans would like to have a pee party right here in the courtroom!"
• Sesame Street:
  • In Episode 3139, Gordon and Susan need a place to spend the night since their apartment is being painted, and they can't spend the night at Angela's apartment since her baby has the chicken pox. Big Bird suggests Hawaii, the park, and his nest, the first of which Susan and Gordon turn down for being too far away, and the latter two Big Bird turns down because it might snow in the former, and some dogs and cats might escape from a pet shop truck if it goes over a bump in the latter. He eventually suggests the Furry Arms Hotel, which is unfortunately overcrowded with a flock of basketball-playing chickens. When Humphrey and Ingrid try to come up with somewhere else Gordon and Susan can stay, they too suggest Hawaii, the park, and Big Bird's nest, but turn down the latter two options for the same reasons as Big Bird.
  • In the 38th season finale, when Oscar visits Maria's bathroom as a reporter for Grouch News Network, he remarks that the only way to get the elephant out of her bathtub is to offer him peanuts. Seconds later, Bob shows up (in his only new appearance that season) with a sack of peanuts.
• In Stark Raving Mad, Ian has an unusual connection with his stalker that enables him to say completely random things knowing that said stalker will translate them for Henry.
• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody:
  • Zack and Cody are trying to catch some jewel thieves, and Zack has set up a net in London's suite and covered it with leaves:
    Cody: Why would there be leaves in a hotel suite?
    Zack: ... I'll open up the window so they'll think it blew in from the park across the street!
    Cody: That'll never work!
    [Later, when the jewel thieves enter the suite]
    Thief 1: ... Why are there leaves on the floor?
    Thief 2: [looks at window] It must've blown in from the park across the street.
    Zack: [to Cody] Told you!
  • In another episode, Zack and Cody try to catch a father-daughter con duo and Cody does much of the work to catch them, with Zack being the one who comes up with the name of the plan, which is pretty lame. Near the end, when they're caught, the father reveals the daughter is the brains of the operation and that he's the one who comes up with the lame plan names.
• Tattletales: July 5, 1974: The question to the ladies was "You're the editor of Playgirl magazine for a day. Who's going to be next month's centerfold?" Dick Gautier was stumped as his wife, Barbara Stuart, was never really turned on by anyone — he figured Barbara would come up with someone goofy, so he said President Nixon. The audience rose in derisive laughter at such a thought (Convy: "What I want to see is her face when she finds out what you said.") and then Barbara was brought onscreen. Her last-gasp response? "How about President Nixon?" Everybody in Studio 41 — especially Barbara — was stunned as the audience absolutely brought the house down laughing and cheering.
• In the Teen Wolf episode "Abomination", Scott and Allison independently assert that the proper term for the principal's old book about supernatural creatures is "bestiality".
• Occurs half a dozen times per episode on The West Wing.
  • In one notable example, Sam spends an entire episode going around asking if people have heard about an Alabama town which just voted to replace all its laws with the Ten Commandments. Everybody he talks to wants to know how they're going to tell if you're coveting your neighbor's wife.
  • Another episode has Donna compare economic theory to the problems of deciding which diet plan to follow by saying you should take a bit from each theory, much to the amusement of Josh. Only a short while later, the President makes the exact same point to Josh (minus the diet analogy).
• In an episode of Who's the Boss?, Angela becomes very depressed when Tony tells her that Peterson called her a "two-bit tramp" who "slept her way to the top" behind her back. When her mother comes in to cheer her up, she correctly guesses what he said, saying that's what every man says when he's jealous of a woman in a higher position.
• Whose Line Is It Anyway?: In one game of "Greatest Hits" on the American edition, Wayne Brady and Chip Esten were singing a song in the style of The Police and both managed to mimic Sting's signature "Eeee-yoooh!" at the exact same time, which cracked them up.
• On Will & Grace, in the episode "It's a Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, World", Grace's coffee has "Patrice" written on it- she claims it's her Coffee Name. Then Will says "Tyler" is his "my getting-out-of-going-to-your-parent's-house name". A few minutes later Jack enters, saying "Hey, Tyler. Hey, Patrice."
• In The Worst Year of My Life, Again, Maddy and Howe seem to operate on the same wavelength, which is not the same as anyone else's. They both go to Nicola's halloween party as the Screaming Schoolgirl/boy (complete with old-fashioned wooden ruler), and later Howe is able to tell — with no prompting — that Maddy's 'scary' costume is her dentist dressed to go to a party.
• In Yes, Dear, After Christine gets mad at Jimmy for only writing "Love, Jimmy" on his Valentine's Day card to her, Kim and Greg try to fix things by saying that everyone must sit down and write something they love about their spouse. Jimmy accidentally writes down lyrics from "Livin' On a Prayer" without realizing it, which Greg berates him for. Then Christine reveals that she wrote the same thing, and the two sing the next part of the song together.
• One episode of The Young Ones has multiple clones of Neil popping out of the ground, one of them says "Wow, anyone who saw that must have thought it was a multiple reality inversion". Cut to two random bystanders: "Wow, that looked just like a multiple reality inversion."

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