The 7 Best TV Crossover Episodes Of All Time, Ranked
Crossovers are a unique fixture of the TV medium, remaining as ubiquitously tied with the entire television format as ill-timed commercials, narrative cold opens, or the often grating clip show or bottle episode many of us hope to avoid seeing.
Just as most viewers might express avid enthusiasm at the idea of a cinematic crossover in the same vein as The Avengers, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, or Godzilla v. Kong, so too do audiences jump for joy every time two or more of their favorite TV shows come together for a single collaborative episode.
With most viewers itching for a chance to see the characters of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia appear alongside the lovable cast of Abbott Elementary, now seems like a great opportunity to look back at some of the greatest TV crossovers we’ve seen yet. From multipart Disney Channel movies to animated horror projects featuring beloved ‘60s cartoon characters, here are some of our absolute favorite crossover TV episodes, ranked in order from worst to best.
7. That’s So Raven, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody
Time and time again, audiences have seen crossovers between two succinct TV series – but rarely have they had the chance to see a total of three TV shows come together for a shared crossover episode. With “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana,” Disney Channel fans managed to witness an overstuffed combination of their three favorite 2000s-era shows: That’s So Raven, Hannah Montana, and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. As each show’s branching storylines unfold in the elegant Tipton Hotel, “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana” provided younger viewers a three-part Disney comedy episode of surprising scope and complexity.
6. The X-Files and Cops
On paper, it’s hard to imagine a show like The X-Files co-existing with the realistic presentation of Fox’s Cops. Yet it’s for this very reason that “X-Cops” continues to earn standout acclaim, if only for its surprisingly entertaining documentary-style presentation. Though largely unconnected from the overall mythos of The X-Files, “X-Cops” serves as a welcome breath of fresh air for longtime viewers of the show, allowing for plenty of unabashed creativity in terms of its self-referential humor, fascinating main storyline, and simple but effective use of faux documentary cinematography.
5. Supernatural and Scooby-Doo
The intrepid teen investigators at the heart of Scooby-Doo have partnered with some strange companions over the years, from tough-talking WWE wrestlers to the gungho roster of the 1972 Harlem Globetrotters. As many odd encounters as Mystery, Inc. have had with certain individuals over the years, Supernatural’s Sam and Dean might just rank as the most bizarre of the bunch. With Sam and Dean trapped inside a vintage episode of Scooby-Doo, “Scoobynatural” comes packed to the brim with hilarious moments, many of which seamlessly merge Supernatural’s signature scares with Scooby-Doo’s wackier tone. From Dean flirting with Daphne to Castiel bonding with Scooby and Shaggy, from Velma crushing on Sam to Dean bickering with Fred, every moment of “Scoobynatural” serves as an effective love letter to Scooby-Doo’s earliest history.
4. Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder
Given how closely tied law and politics are in the U.S. legal system, it’s not exactly surprising that Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder made for such a delectable pairing with Scandal’s Season 7 episode, “Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself.” Providing an intense look at the ongoing problems miring America’s unbalanced judicial system, “Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself” also scores points for casting Viola Davis’s Annalise Keating and Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope as an all-star legal team fighting for progress and justice in the courts. In many ways, it’s a crossover episode so good, we almost wish we could see Davis and Washington team up again in a full-fledged spin-off together.
3. Full House and Family Matters
In the early 1990s, no two sitcoms were as universally well-known by mainstream viewers as Family Matters and Full House. With that in mind, it’s no great shock that the two ABC series eventually came together for a shared crossover with Full House’s Season 4 episode, “Stephanie Gets Framed.” With Jaleel White’s breakout character Steve Urkel making his way to the Tanner household, “Stephanie Gets Framed” has plenty of great moments when showcasing Urkel’s encounters with the cast of Full House, from his awkward dance lessons with Jesse to his cathartic heart-to-heart discussion with Steph regarding her new glasses.
2. The Simpsons and Family Guy
After spending roughly a decade slinging hard-edged insults at one another, the creators of The Simpsons and Family Guy finally set aside their differences to work on a collaborative project together. The resulting labor of love gave way to 2014’s “The Simpsons Guy,” an hour-long episode of Family Guy that transports the Griffin family to the brightly-lit suburbs of The Simpsons’ Springfield. Though the final episode might not always live up to audiences’ larger-than-life expectations, “The Simpsons Guy” nevertheless fulfilled many viewers’ fantasies about what an interaction between the Simpsons and Griffins might look like, be it in the form of a fistfight between Peter and Homer, the passive aggressive friendship between Meg and Lisa, or the downright demonic pranking partnership between Stewie and Bart.
1. Crisis on Infinite Earths
In no uncertain terms, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” was a television event unlike any other. An epic crossover episode that merged multiple strands of DC’s pre-existing film and television series together into one fully-formed entity, “Crisis on Infinite Earth” accurately captures the depth and brevity of DC’s original comic book storyline. Through its generous five-hour runtime, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” manages to underscore the ambitious scope of the Arrowverse in its entirety, pitting the main characters of Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow against their most dangerous foe yet. With appearances from notable DC actors like Kevin Conroy, Brandon Routh, Burt Ward, and Ezra Miller, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” serves as a television epic as narratively engrossing as the various Avengers or Justice League films that came before it.
