Top "surprise cameos" in TV history

[DanOregon]

With Kim Cattral's surprise cameo in the Sex and the City thing, it made me wonder which others really "popped." I know there are a few from SNL, but I'll start with two obvious ones - Suzanne Pleschette in the "Newhart" finale and Patrick Duffy in the shower in "Dallas."

 

[The Big Ragu]

Pick an episode of Entourage.

 

[MisterCreosote]

This stretches the definition of “cameo” quite a bit, but Ron Howard appearing as himself is one of the few good things about the Netflix seasons of Arrested Development.

 

[DanOregon]

To me, the most surprising Ron Howard cameo was in the Jamie Foxx video for "Blame It"

 

[DanOregon]

The series could have ended there really - Hathaway's final scene. She died in the pilot - but producers decided to bring her back. It went on for nine more years. Never got better than this though.

 

[ChrisLong]

When William Zabka showed up at the end of "How I Met Your Mother" it was ..... wait for it ...... awesome.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 was a nice touch.

George Clooney was so freaking good in ER. He would have held his own on "St. Elsewhere," too, even with all the heavy hitters on that show.

 

[Deskgrunt50]

Suzanne Pleshette at the end of Newhart and Ricky Gervais on the US version of the office come to mind.

Kevin McHale and Wade Boggs on Cheers.

 

[ChrisLong]

The movie "Lords of Dogtown" is about skateboarders in Venice and Santa Monica in the '70s and '80s. There was a scene where a couple of the prominent guys went to meet astronauts. One of the astronauts was Tony Hawk. He tried a board and fell off. Said, "This is harder than it looks."
"Dogtown and the Z Boys" was a documentary with film of the actual skateboarders, done by Stacey Peralta, who was one of the Z Boys. "Lords of Dogtown" was a Hollywood movie with actors.

 

[Liut]

Carson on Letterman is one I vaguely remember.

 

[outofplace]

I only saw a handful of episodes of New Girl, but my daughter loves it. She showed me an appearance by Prince, which was really funny.

Big Bang Theory was mostly crap, but they had some fun cameos. The one with James Earl Jones and Carrie Fisher was fun.

 

[Azrael]

Nixon on 'Laugh-In.'

 

[Liut]

Nixon on 'Laugh-In.'

Good pull

 

[da man]

Does Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld count as a surprise?

 

[swingline]

I spit on that reference.

 

[dixiehack]

I know there are a few from SNL

Janet Reno showing up for the last Janet Reno Dance Party was a nice touch.

 

[garrow]

Val Kilmer on Psych.

 

[BTExpress]

The series could have ended there really - Hathaway's final scene. She died in the pilot - but producers decided to bring her back. It went on for nine more years. Never got better than this though.

They also had a cameo in a very late episode of ER when Sam and Neela flew to Seattle to obtain an organ for transport back to Chicago.

 

[MisterCreosote]

When William Zabka showed up at the end of "How I Met Your Mother" it was ..... wait for it ...... awesome.

For as terribly as that show ended, they did awesome cameos.

Zabka, Alan Thicke and Winnie Cooper are at the top. J-Lo and Regis were really good, too.

Then there was the Wedding Bride stuff with Chris Kattan and Malin Ackerman, and the Robin Daggers stuff with just about every prominent Canadian entertainer of the last 50 years.

 

[DanOregon]

Mike Myers, Madonna and Roseanne flipping out when Barbra Streisand walks onto their sketch at the end - fantastic.