The Duel Masters dub is hilarious. I guess the dubbing team just figured "People are just gonna call us a Yugioh knockoff, so let's just have some fun with this anyway". There was an entire episode where the editor couldn't get the right footage and the characters kept complaining about it.
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.
If you ever get a chance to see it, I'd heartily recommend it. The show and its main character are self-aware to such a point that it's ridiculous, to great comedic effect.
Comedy: Sean's Show (Inspired by It's Garry Shandling's Show, but with a more British twist to the humour) The Young Ones and Bottom would address the camera at times. I'm told Filthy, Rich and Claptrap does so as well, but I've not seen as much of it. Up Pompeii (The conceit of each episode was the central character - the slave Lurcio - trying to tell the audience a story, but he would keep getting distracted by the action going on around him before being diverted into the plot of the week.) Mrs. Brown's Boys: A *very* old-fashioned sitcom - other than a few modern elements, it could have been made in the seventies - but each episode will generally have a few minutes where the characters corpse and they actually bring attention to it, or wander out towards the camera crew. Also each episode - again - would open (and generally close) with Mrs. Brown directly talking to the audience. Miranda: Another old-fashioned sitcom; doesn't go as far as Mrs Brown's Boys does, but Miranda will again address the audience or do knowing looks directly to camera. Dangermouse and Count Duckula were both aware of the audience and - in the case of DM - had the narration take a role in the storyline and was even more aware of them! Trap Door: Similarly, Berk was quite content to chat to the audience. But then, it's pretty ubiquitous across a lot of UK cartoons.
Drama:
The original House of Cards trilogy Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes dances around the fourth wall somewhat. It never fully breaks it - as far as I can imagine - but there's little hints and suggestions that involve the viewer. Spoilery example, from the very climax of Life on Mars:
As Sam turns off the radio, voluntarily cutting himself off from his 'real' life, the car drives off into the distance, and Test Card Girl - in some ways a personification of 'death', of sorts - walks up, looks directly into the camera, and turns off the television. Series ends.
Byker Grove. I've mentioned it elsewhere because the ending was batshit insane and self-aware. The normal show is a perfectly standard teen-focused drama series set around a youth club. But the way the series ended threw everything out of the window. From TVTropes:
The entire youth club is made aware of the fact that they are all fictional characters, that their entire world is fictional, and that the almighty scriptwriters have decided to end their show. But the scriptwriters give them a parting gift...a stack of magic script paper; anything they write on the paper will happen in front of them. The idea is that they can write their own happy endings before the show is finished for good. They do...until two of the younger children write in a ton of dynamite and try to blow the youth club up.... *end credits*
Lovejoy would frequently address the camera Hustle was very playful with the format. It'd address the camera from time to time, frequently in situations where they explain the basic concept of the con (and entirely break style sometimes when doing it, too). The series closed by utterly shattering the fourth wall:
The characters were having a celebratory drink in Eddie's bar, then started addressing the camera, trading lines generally about conning and warnings about how to avoid them, while doing a walk-and-talk; they gathered their coats and walked out of the bar into the studio backlot, got into a flash car and drove off into the sunset
. Moll Flanders (The ITV adaptation from the 90's). Would address the camera in something of an Urquhart style (albeit without the machiavellian machinations!) Doctor Whogenerally doesn't, but there's been the occasional aside across the series' history. Of note, though, is that there's a spell where Tom Baker is without a companion (after Sarah-Jane) where there is a lot of chatting to the camera. Casanova (The Russell T Davis adaptation with David Tennant): Again, lots of addressing the camera. Dennis Potter Plays: Not exactly 'TV Series', but he did a lot of work for television, and it was a mainstay of his style. Brimstone and Treacle, Pennies from Heaven, The Singing Detective, Lipstick on your Collar.
Funny Games is superb and great for this. I haven't seen the American version, but I hear it's good also.
I just finished reading "The King in Yellow" by Robert W. Chambers. It was written in 1895 and is the first example I've run across of "Breaking the fourth wall". It's a weird fiction book of short stories about people who go mad after
The Simpsons - the most heartfelt nods to breaking the fourth wall. Also, they have a Halloween episode where Bart and Lisa literally break into the television.
Older British series did this too. The Young Ones is a good example.
Yeah, that galled me as a put-down; fact is, the idea that the viewer is a co-conspirator is aided by that mechanic, and it helps to make it more compelling. You absolutely are supposed to.
The entire last episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold had Batmite trying to get the show cancelled.
The last 5 minutes have Batman in the Batcave attending a wrap up party for the show.
He gives the ending speech whilst the crew takes apart the set.
The episode also opened with Batman teaming up with Abe Lincoln to fight Steampunk John Wilkes Booth. That isn't breaking the fourth wall but gets mentioned due to how awesome it is.
Nope! There is (or was) a rule for Nickelodeon cartoons that they weren't allowed to break the fourth wall. The characters in the cartoons weren't allowed to acknowledge they were cartoons either.
Nope! There is (or was) a rule for Nickelodeon cartoons that they weren't allowed to break the fourth wall. The characters in the cartoons weren't allowed to acknowledge they were cartoons either.
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.
Wait, was having a discussion about what breaking the fourth wall actually means and it's generally considered to be basically taking the audience out of the show right? So what Supernatural does needs a whole new term cause the audience exists within the shows canon.
With the right Writer and Director, a Deadpool movie could possibly be the king of 4th wall breaking....but I have doubt that Fox have the balls to do it.
