TV Characters That Knew They Were On TV Shows

Every show will have a fourth wall gag once in awhile. Happy Days ended their run with Howard thanking the audience for watching, Cliff and Clair danced through the fourth wall at the end of The Cosby Show. One episode of Just Shoot Me ended with Brook Shields breaking character to question the ludicrous scene she was in. Even Seinfeld couldn’t resist a wink to the audience at the end of “The Race”. Hard as it is to believe Star Trek also did it once when McCoy flat out addressed the audience at the end of an episode. This goes back to Burns & Allen!





But occasional winks to the audience is one thing. But sometimes these go behind just gags, they’re a part of the show that the character or characters know they are on a TV series. And the gags about that are almost constant. Here are five examples:



Malcolm from Malcolm in the Middle


I was never a fan of this show, but it came up in my research so I checked it out. And yeah, Malcolm was constantly breaking the fourth wall to address the audience. I tried to watch a whole episode…and couldn’t do it. Just not for me.







Zack from Saved By The Bell

Anyone question this one? There’s no doubt Zack knew he was in a TV show. Heck, he addressed the audience at the start of many episodes! For some reason, the others didn’t seem to know that. But Zack could not only interact with the audience but he could control time with his “Time out’s!”.








Will from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

I could do a whole list of these. No question that Will knew he was a TV character, with dozens of gags through the series, Some  were subtle, like Will just looking to the audience in reaction to something. Some were obvious, like Carlton running through the set in panic. I wasn’t sure if this was just a first season thing but then realized it stayed through the series. In one episode back in Philly, Calton asks who a bully is. Will responds “he’s the dude spinning me over his head in the opening credits”. And since Carlton doesn’t bat an eye at this, it’s clear that the family knows they are a TV show too. The ultimate had to be when they changes actress’s for Vivian. Jazz notes that since she had the baby, Vivian looks a lot different. Will just gives the audience a look and moves on.




Jack and Wallie in Love & War

Many probably don’t remember this show but I do and it’s a great example. The basic premise is that Jack and Wallie are dating (Jay Thomas and Susan Dey btw). The whole premise of the show is their relationship, and in every episode of the first season the two will break the fourth wall and address the audience about whatever the day’s issue was. This was OK in the more kid friendly stuff, but here it just interrupted the show. There’s a reason that people have best friends or family to talk to.
and yes Annie Potts is pictured not Susan Dey, only pic I could find





The Seaver’s on Growing Pains

Why isn’t this one more well known? Maybe because they were kind of subtle about it, tge gags didn’t beat you voer the head like Fresh Prince did. There was no winking to the camera, just subtle gags. But yes it was clear the characters knew they were on a TV show. There was once when Jason said he would have a talk with Mike “later, during Moonlighting”. Moonlighting followed the series on ABC at the time. In another episode when Jason tricked Carol into thinking he was hurting, he proclaimed “If there was any justice I’d get an Emmy for that performance”. Another time Maggie was trying to get hot details about a date from the Grandmother when she said “there’s only so much I can tell in an 8:30 show”. After one bizarre episode, Jason was able to tied it up into a moral. When Mike expressed he was impressed with it Jason added “I wasn’t sure if there was a point to this ridiculous episode”. There are lots more but I think I made my point.




Everyone on Moonlighting

Speaking of Moonlighting, this show seriously pushed the boundaries between the show and the fourth wall. Not only did they have the characters talking to the audience in the openings, but there were set changes on screen and actors walking on and off the sets. Not to mention little snide jabs at the writers or what was going on in the episode. The main characters never broke character during these moments. I wish I was more a fan so I could give real examples but I never watched it. In the final episode a man walked on stage to tell the characters the show was cancelled and they would cease to exist as the sets were being torn down. This was a weird show, wasn’t it?




Sesame Street

This may seem odd, since it is a kids show and it isn’t unusual for a kids show to have a guy standing there talking to the camera for the half hour and interacting with the kids at home. And usually the characters come to him in the form of puppets (Mr.Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, etc). Sesame Street was different however. This show existed in it own little world, you felt as if you could visit that street and find those people there. Hence the “Can you tell me how to get, how do you get to Sesame Street” line in the theme. And the characters felt like real people with real lives (heck they worked, got married, had babies, etc), even the Muppets. It wasn’t just, for instance, just some guy in a striped shirt talking to an animated cartoon dog. Yeah I just dissed Blues Clues!!!  So, it was really awesome to not only get to visit this place but to be personally greeted by one of the characters every time you arrived with a “Hey, welcome to Sesame Street!”. They weren’t saying “welcome to the show” so much as “thanks for stopping by”. You felt like you weren’t just watching a TV show but hanging out with friends! That what I loved about the show anyway.






Ah, fourth wall gags. I love them so. By the way the short lived Unhappily Every After did this a lot, but I have never or will ever watch the show to find out. And yes even drama’s do this (Magnum PI with constant literal winking to the audience). And of course movies even do this too (Ferris Bueller anyone?) but that’s another list entirely my friends.


Oh and before anyone suggests The Nanny, that was more meta-humor. Now there’s another idea!!

I have a feeling I could have easily made this ten shows, so comment and let me know what I missed.