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Breaking the 4th wall. What other shows/movies do this?

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8BitsAtATime said:
Funny Games

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Man i love that film
 
The Gintama character popularity poll arc. I lost it when characters were trying to convince each other to say lines from the voice actors other shows.
 
DarkKyo said:
American Dad does it here and there.

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"That was American Dad's 1000th vagina joke!"
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Last episode I watched had Stan storm off the set, refusing to read his lines in a B-plot that wasn't going anywhere. American Dad does that sort of thing a few times.

Cleveland Show also had a "live" episode. That's probably the only notable thing that show did.
 
One of my favorites is the end of In The Mouth of Madness, one of John Carpenter's greatest horror movies.

The main character walks into a cinema showing the movie you've just watched, and sits with a giant tub of popcorn laughing at what he is seeing.

Say what you want about Carpenter, but the dude could end movies.
 
The last two or three episodes of The Neighbors did this frequently. I don't know if they knew they were being cancelled at the time but they certainly went crazy with the meta humor, referencing being nominated for an Emmy for the Bollywood episode, and Debbie Weaver is saying something and then turns to her husband and says, “The things that have come out of my mouth this season!.”

The AVClub says this:
Who needs a “previously on” reel when Jackie can simply open the episode by imploring Larry to “catch up those two Tim Allen fans who accidentally tuned in” after Last Man Standing? That’s the kind of gag The Neighbors has feasted on for the past season-plus, ever since they decided not just to tear down the fourth wall, but basically come into our living rooms on a comedic pledge-driving crusade for their renewal. In lieu of bartering series merchandise for donations, “There Goes the Neighbors’ Hood”−which finds the Bird-Kersees moving back to Zabvron rather than confront Reggie’s yen to be human and Dick’s itch to pull a Doogie Howser and enroll early in Harvard, among other Earthly crises−reasons that our continued viewership would facilitate further antics like sass-talking gingerbread men and toothpick statues of Marty Weaver.
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Shame on you all for making the ratings suck.
 
CoryCubed said:
I really liked when they discussed all the shows cancelled when Family Guy was off the air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oMTmtN7lHI
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FG is entirely self aware. They time travel back to the first episode and take the piss out of the animation, watch the pilot versions of their characters stand still during cut aways, and say that the original Meg VA missed out on a great opportunity.

And there's one of the James Woods episodes where he threatens to do one of Peter's cut aways.

At the end of several episodes they acknowledge that it's the end. In one, Peter asks if anyone has any more jokes, and when no one does he says something like "Alright, I guess we're done then". In another, there's a fake "phone in and vote" recurring joke and an option (the one they take) is "Give Cleveland his first line of the episode". But the one that really highlights a trope is when Peter asks Lois how she loses a job. Lois responds with something like "Does anyone really care? It'll be back to normal next week" and it ends.

This could go on all day, there are so many moments.
 
WordAssassin said:
This is true. The actual last episode of Angry Beavers has them discover their show is going to be cancelled. It was even recorded but Nick axed it before it was animated.
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Well Nick became a bit angry at the creators of Angry Beavers because the final episode didn't just 'break the fourth wall'. It even made fun of Nickelodeon for making profits by syndicating a show. And that they could exploit a TV series long after its development.

Nick responded by canceling the last 5 episodes or so.

But after all the horror stories of Invader Zim, I don't think it's a secret Nickelodeon was a pretty awful company to develop a show with...
 
In movies: I saw a new trailer for Jersey Boys in front of Edge of Tomorrow and they do it throughout. I assume that carries over to the film itself and isn't just footage unique to the trailer.
 
Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (UK) did a live episode, during which one of the characters turns on the TV to sees what is on BBC3 (the channel it originally aired on), and becomes confused by what she sees, and then they move on.

Another Family Guy one is when Peter looks in the TV guide and reads the summary for that episode. I don't remember exactly how it goes.
 
Metal-Geo said:
Well Nick became a bit angry at the creators of Angry Beavers because the final episode didn't just 'break the fourth wall'. It even made fun of Nickelodeon for making profits by syndicating a show. And that they could exploit a TV series long after its development.

Nick responded by canceling the last 5 episodes or so.

But after all the horror stories of Invader Zim, I don't think it's a secret Nickelodeon was a pretty awful company to develop a show with...
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Oh wow, I didn't know it went that far and there were so many unaired episodes. :O
 
Fiction said:
Yeah, and how often they talk about the show(or the books really) and it's audience, how the fandom literally exists inside the show. Not really addressing the watcher though, so I'm not sure it counts.


Edit: wait, does fake Misha tweeting stuff in the show that real Misha also tweeted count? That totally counts right?
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What episode? I have never seen the show but that discription piqued my interest.
 
CarpeDeezNutz said:
What episode? I have never seen the show but that description piqued my interest.
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The meta stuff starts happening near the end of season four (and from that point on, the fandom of the show exists within the show) but the most meta episode of called The French Mistake in season six.

More spoilery explanation of the meta stuff:
They discover a book series (season four, episode called The Monster at the End of this Book) written about their lives, called Supernatural, each book is named after each episode and 100% accurate to what happened on the show. The discover fandom (and hilariously enough, slash fanfiction). The books were actually written by a dude named Chuck, who turns out to be a prophet who didn't know he was chosen, just wrote what he 'saw'. It comes up often over the course of the rest of the series, including crazy ass fan girls and conventions, Chuck apologizing for making them live bad writing, chuck possibly actually being God, his pen name is an almagmation of the names of the two executive producers of the show, etc.

The French Mistake:
In this episode, they are shoved into another dimension, where they are Jensen Ackles and Jared Padeleki, actors on a show called Supernatural. The entire cast and crew (include writers and directors and producers) star in the episode as themselves (aside from the two mains, who are pretending to their characters pretending to be themselves). They meet Misha Collins (who plays Castiel in the series) and he is constantly tweeting (and all those tweets actually get tweeted by Misha IRL)
 
I know Community has broken the Fourth Wall as was mentioned earlier, but I can't think of any real examples of actual fourth-wall breaking. Just self-awareness. The show is/was very self-aware and meta. But fourth-wall breaking? Not as much as you'd think. Anyone remember any examples? And yes, I know I'm Abed.

kswiston said:
My actual favourite is one that I couldn't find where they explain why Nicki aged like 4 years between seasons. I think Jazz even asks who was playing Vivian that season.
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The best part is it is actually the scene immediately following the credits in this very episode. (The same one where NBC abducts him back to Bel-Air.)

Is Fresh Prince available for streaming anywhere? According to Can I Stream It, it's only on iTunes or VuDu for purchase. And not all episodes are on both. Not available for streaming. Boo. It's fucking 2014.
 
The Real Abed said:
I know Community has broken the Fourth Wall as was mentioned earlier, but I can't think of any real examples of actual fourth-wall breaking. Just self-awareness. The show is/was very self-aware and meta. But fourth-wall breaking? Not as much as you'd think. Anyone remember any examples? And yes, I know I'm Abed.
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I haven't seen all of Community yet but I agree that some people in this thread seem to be confusing being "self aware" with breaking the fourth wall. I know they are pretty close but breaking the fourth wall is, as far as I've been told, when you actually address the audience, ie, look at the camera and/or speak to the viewer. Community hasn't done that so far, but it ssssoooorrrrtt of does it with Troy and Abed in the Morning sketches.
 
Fiction said:
The meta stuff starts happening near the end of season four (and from that point on, the fandom of the show exists within the show) but the most meta episode of called The French Mistake in season six.

More spoilery explanation of the meta stuff:
They discover a book series (season four, episode called The Monster at the End of this Book) written about their lives, called Supernatural, each book is named after each episode and 100% accurate to what happened on the show. The discover fandom (and hilariously enough, slash fanfiction). The books were actually written by a dude named Chuck, who turns out to be a prophet who didn't know he was chosen, just wrote what he 'saw'. It comes up often over the course of the rest of the series, including crazy ass fan girls and conventions, Chuck apologizing for making them live bad writing, chuck possibly actually being God, his pen name is an almagmation of the names of the two executive producers of the show, etc.

The French Mistake:
In this episode, they are shoved into another dimension, where they are Jensen Ackles and Jared Padeleki, actors on a show called Supernatural. The entire cast and crew (include writers and directors and producers) star in the episode as themselves (aside from the two mains, who are pretending to their characters pretending to be themselves). They meet Misha Collins (who plays Castiel in the series) and he is constantly tweeting (and all those tweets actually get tweeted by Misha IRL)
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Ahh, cool thanks!
 
Gotta say I kind of love the whole 'fake reality show' setup. Ie The Office and Parks and Recreation.

It allows the characters to share moments and deep thoughts with the audience and having the phoney cameras there also allows the audience to partake in the story as well.

I shouldn't like it. But I does.
 
WordAssassin said:
I haven't seen all of Community yet but I agree that some people in this thread seem to be confusing being "self aware" with breaking the fourth wall. I know they are pretty close but breaking the fourth wall is, as far as I've been told, when you actually address the audience, ie, look at the camera and/or speak to the viewer. Community hasn't done that so far, but it ssssoooorrrrtt of does it with Troy and Abed in the Morning sketches.
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Yeah. But they explain that away as "there's no cameras there! Who are you talking to?"

But that's really as far as Community goes for breaking walls. It's mostly just self-awareness. Meta-commentary on the situation at hand having to do with the show itself. But no walls being knocked down for realsies. Usually if anything seems fourth-wall breaking it's Abed pretending he's in a TV show.
 
The Real Abed said:
Yeah. But they explain that away as "there's no cameras there! Who are you talking to?"

But that's really as far as Community goes for breaking walls. It's mostly just self-awareness. Meta-commentary on the situation at hand having to do with the show itself. But no walls being knocked down for realsies. Usually if anything seems fourth-wall breaking it's Abed pretending he's in a TV show.
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Oh for sure, it's not quite the same thing because they're not actually addressing the audience with the knowledge that they themselves are on a tv show. It's about as close as it gets on Community though, from what I've seen.
 
Lord of War has some good 4th wall action with Nic Cage.

"That's the secret to survival. Never go to war. Especially with yourself."
 
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