Videogames featured in television shows

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Have you ever seen real life videogame like the Nintendo being played or just sitting in the background as a prop?  I set myself on a quest to see if anyone has started a project like this and came upon a website called The electronic Playground  http://www.tepg.se/

This site seems to focus on movies for the most part and the few shows they do mention, I don’t even have.
So I went ahead and recorded all the moments I found in my collection up to 2001 and will share my findings.

Growing Pains Season 2 Ep 8 Jason’s Rib - Mike and Ben are seen playing the black box game NES Golf.  Notice that they use composite rca jacks.  I wonder if they run it to the VCR or if it was to the Television.

That 70’s show Season 01 Ep 22 Punk Chick - Kelso decides that Pong is too easy with the original paddles so he decides to modify it with the help of Red.

Roseanne Season 04 Ep 15 The Back Story -  DJ asks for SNES for his birthday, his parents say they can’t afford it but then his Grandma buys it.  We then see that Dan actually did buy it for DJ because Dan is found testing it out at his shop.   We also find out that DJ’s next door neighbor Todd Bowman owns a Genesis.
Roseanne Season 04 Ep 19 The Commercial Show - Todd Bowman complains about Lanford and says his new friends in Chicago have more games.  After their argument DJ reveals that Todd’s mother needs surgery to have the stick removed from her butt.

Magnum PI Season 04 Ep 03 Smaller than Life - Kid playing missile command on atari 400 then later Donkey Kong.  The kid tells Rick and Magnum that he can log in to this computer they speak of by using his modem.

Magnum PI Season 05 Ep12 Little Games Master - Magnum Plays the PC game Dungeon Master on Robin Master’s expensive security system computer and crashes it.

King of the Hill Season 11 Ep 08 Grand Theft Arlen - Hank becomes adicted to a game called Pro Pain where the protagonist is a Propane Salesman named Hank and you travel around Arlen and do different things in the same manner as Grand Theft Auto.

King of the Hill Season 09 Ep15 It aint over till the fat neighbor sings - Bobby finds Peggies Atari console in the closet and they play each other

Night Court Season 05 Ep 03 Death of a Baliff - After the Court spends alot of money buying computers for the courthouse Mac doesn’t want to give up his paper filing system and calls the computer an appliance from hell. After Mac figures out how to turn it on, Harry asks what the next case is and Mac responds, “The People vs... Pac-Man sir” Laughter ensues.

Home Improvment Season 01 Ep 24 Stereoo Typical - Tim decides they need a surround sound audio system and we  see an Atari 5200 with a paddle on top of the television.

Home Improvment Season 02 Ep 10 Let’s Did Lunch - Mark is seen playing Gameboy OG in the backyard.

Home Improvment Season 01 Ep 13 Up Your Alley -  The boys get bullied by a ruffian at the bowling alley arcade in detroit.  I can see Zaxon and Lady bug


Home Improvement Seaon 05 Ep 22 the longest day - Randy is depressed and goes to the local arcade.  We get to see a number of  arcade cabinets.

This show seemed to push education and  outdoor activities in my opinion.  The Taylors seemed generous with their computer purchases and the whole family seemed to only do work on them.

Full House Season 08 Ep 09 - Michelle Plays SNES with a Super Advantage and the whole family takes over.

Friends Season 02 Ep 08 The One With The List - Chandler brings his new laptop in Central Perk and says, “Alright Check out this bad boy 12MB Ram, 500 MB HDD, built in spreadsheet capabilities and a modem that transmits over 28000 BPS.”  Phobe responds, “wow what are you gonna use it for?”  Chandler, “Games and Stuff.”

Friends s06e08 When Chandler comes to visit Joey after he moved out and Joey’s girlfriend moved in, we can see Joey getting ready to play Nintendo 64.  The two never play although I’m left wondering what games Joey would propose.

Fresh Prince Bel Air Season S06 Ep 16 - Carlton and Will are seen playing some type of game although the controllers are certainly not the originals and I’am suspicious of them even being plugged into anything.  Philip comments that these things are a waste of time.

Fraiser Season 03 Ep 09 Frasier’s Grinch - Frasier’s boring gift get mixed up in the mail at Christmas so Frasier needs to find something quick at the local mall.  We can see on the shelf for the Super Nintendo a game called Mother 2 or what it is called in North America, Earthbound.  Frasier gets something educational instead of any videogames.
Also we can see Super Nintendo basic sets above Donkey Kong Country Deluxe sets as well as a customer walking out with a Gameboy Original.

Frasier Season 07 Ep 09 - Niles and Lilith play Frederick’s Playstion one with a red dualshock controller

Family matters Season 01 Ep 17 The Big Fix - Judy, Laura and Eddie play the NES with joystick controllers and then the parents send them to bed and begin playing themselves.

Family Mater Season 09 Ep11 - Steve gets a part time job wrapping Christmas gifts at the mall and we can see a Sidewinder controller for Flight Sim

CSI Las Vegas Season 01 Pilot - Nick Stokes asks Chemist Greg Sanders if he has NFL 2K for Dreamcast and Greg says he bought it the day it came out, the graphics are killer, I play as the Falcons who do you play as?  Nick simply replies that he plays as Randy Moss of the Minesota Vikings.  He was a first round pick by Minesota in 1998 as a wide reciever and holds records for touchdowns.

North of 60 Season 01 Ep 07 The Reunion - cops son has gameboy playing fake game motion killers 3000

North of 60 Season 04 Ep 01 The Refuges - After the band decides to move Gerry out of his trailer because a band member has returned.  When law enforcement pays him a visit we see that he has a Super Nintendo.

North of 60 Season 04 Ep 08 A Shot Rang Out - Albert has a Nintendo which I would assume belongs to his son Nathan

North of 60 Season 05 Ep 02 Bushman - Tina is seen playing what looks to be a Gameboy Pocket with the rare translucent

Throughout the entire series we see a Ms. Pac Man cabinet beside the main entrance to Gerry’s Store.

 

[E-Day]

I remember in 1994 or 1995, my parents were watching some show I wasn't interested in. It was the beginning of the show, and the (main?) character was playing Sonic 3. You saw him from the side looking at the TV, but you also heard the Hydrocity Zone Act 1 music. And then they cut at least once to footage of the game. It's the only time I remember a show actually focusing on the game being played instead of it being in the background as a prop.

For those few seconds, I was interested in the show.

[Kain]

There was one Episode of Friends where Chandler was playing Crash Team Racing. Episode where joey thinks he can pass for a 19 year old.

 

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Seinfeld Season 05 Ep 12 The Stall - Tetris, Sim City and Super Spike V'Ball make it onto Jerry's shelf mid way through season 5 and it does not change for the rest of the series.

Seinfeld Season 09 Ep 18 The Frogger - George and Jerry visit their old high school hang out one last time before it closes down.  Jerry notices that George still holds the high score on the Frogger machine from 19 years ago.

Sopranos Season 01 Ep 04 Meadowlands - Tony and Anthony Junior play Mario Kart 64 and talk about their day.

Sopranos Season 02 Ep 10 Bust Out - Anthony Jr plays Flag to Flag Racing on the Sega Dreamcast.  Three controllers are plugged in and I would imagine the television crew would be playing some Soul Calibur and NFL 2K

Drew Carey

For the first 6 season a Sega Saturn was often seen sitting above Drew's television.

Season 05 Ep 13 - The Sega Dreamcast makes a cameo appearance on the show right after the launch.  Doreen and Lewis are seen playing Dreamcast on their first date.

Rumor has it that Drew liked the Dreamcast so much that he took it home and kept it.

Season 07 Ep 03 Beginning with season 7 Drew replaced his Saturn with a Paystation 2.


 

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19 hours ago, E-Day said:

I remember in 1994 or 1995, my parents were watching some show I wasn't interested in. It was the beginning of the show, and the (main?) character was playing Sonic 3. You saw him from the side looking at the TV, but you also heard the Hydrocity Zone Act 1 music. And then they cut at least once to footage of the game. It's the only time I remember a show actually focusing on the game being played instead of it being in the background as a prop.

For those few seconds, I was interested in the show.

I need more clues because I have no idea what show this is from.  I did find an episode of Xfiles in which I hear the music Green Hill Zone playing in the arcade.

X Files Season 03 Ep 03 D.P.O.

[E-Day]

I don't either. A web search turned up nothing. I just remember it because up to that point, it was always Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo when video games were part of a TV show. I clearly remember this and a scene from Fresh Prince when a repairman or someone is describing this dark, gory event, and later revealed is was "Mortal Kombat by Sega".

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17 hours ago, E-Day said:

I don't either. A web search turned up nothing. I just remember it because up to that point, it was always Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo when video games were part of a TV show. I clearly remember this and a scene from Fresh Prince when a repairman or someone is describing this dark, gory event, and later revealed is was "Mortal Kombat by Sega".

There has been a recent robbery in Bel Air at the Spelling residence and Philip wants to upgrade the security system.

The security salesman exaggerates the consequences of not upgrading their security and while he is describing this he goes off topic and begins describing mangled bodies and stuff.  Philip asks where this happened and he says Mortal Kombat by Sega. At the time, Mortal Kombat was popular and if you wanted all the fatalities without censoring blood and gore, then you had to purchase the Sega Genesis version because Super Nintendo had this portion removed.

Fresh Prince of Bel Air Season 4 Ep 16 I Know Why the Caged Bird Screams

 

[Jie]

I know you said TV shows but I still can't forget how Charlie's Angels had those kids playing FFVIII on a PS1.

They're playing as if the game had two players.

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Taxi

Season 03 Ep 13 Zen and the art of Cab driving - Jim has this revelation and decides he will work double shift driving cab.  After Jim saves a bunch of money he invites his friends over to reveal his goal.  They are all surprised when they find out he spent all his money on television as he calls it.  This is one of Christopher Lloyd's better character moments in the show and even though Jim only mentions Video Computer Games, this portion of the episode belongs in this collection.

Season 04 Ep 18 The Unkindest Cut - The cab drivers are complaining of boredom because there is nothing to do in the garage so Louie invest in an a Pac Man arcade unit to help boost morale.  Jim overwhelmingly agrees to be the first to try the game and becomes hooked.

 

[Areala]

I just want to point out that in the first image (Growing Pains), the black box NES game they're playing is actually Baseball, not Golf.

Otherwise, this is a hilarious list. If we're counting movies, Jackie Chan gives his love interest's little brother his old Sega Game Gear in the movie "Rumble in the Bronx". Unfortunately there's no game cart inside it, even when the kid appears to be playing it.

*huggles*
Areala

[zdarfan]

I remember an episode of The Cosby Show where one of the kids was playing a video game on a Super Nintendo. The joke was that grandpa initially criticized video games, then got wrapped up in trying to beat the game himself. The best part was that there was very clearly no cartridge in the system at any time.

[kitsunebi]

2 Different episodes in the first season of House M.D. have him playing Metroid.  Zero Mission for the GBA and Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS.  They seem to think that collecting orbs in Zero Mission = death.

 

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6 hours ago, Areala said:

I just want to point out that in the first image (Growing Pains), the black box NES game they're playing is actually Baseball, not Golf.

Otherwise, this is a hilarious list. If we're counting movies, Jackie Chan gives his love interest's little brother his old Sega Game Gear in the movie "Rumble in the Bronx". Unfortunately there's no game cart inside it, even when the kid appears to be playing it.

*huggles*
Areala

Congratulations!  You have found one of the two errors I purposefully made in my record of what is known as "Growing Pains".  Find the other mistake I made in this scene with Mike & Ben then share it with you're friends and may the best player win!

1 hour ago, zdarfan said:

I remember an episode of The Cosby Show where one of the kids was playing a video game on a Super Nintendo. The joke was that grandpa initially criticized video games, then got wrapped up in trying to beat the game himself. The best part was that there was very clearly no cartridge in the system at any time.

Cosby Show Season 08 Ep 09 For Men Only - Despite Theo's reading disorder know as dyslexia, he has graduated university and is teaching high school classes.  The proud father Heathcliff Huxtable has been invited by his son to give a motivational speech to the class, leaving his granddaughter Oliva and friend without a babysitter.  Heathcliff's father Russell is happy to take on the task and we find them bonding while enjoying a game of Nintendo.

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2 hours ago, Data said:

Congratulations!  You have found one of the two errors I purposefully made in my record of what is known as "Growing Pains".  Find the other mistake I made in this scene with Mike & Ben then share it with you're friends and may the best player win!

 

Time is up.  This one fried the brain of even our best game garbanzos.  The other mistake in the scene where Ben and Mike play Nintendo is the fact that the control deck is turned around backwards.  Nobody can give a logical reason why this is so unless they wanted to show the RCA cables neatly falling from the coffee table.

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Head of the Class King of Remedial S3E20

Tired of Dennis Blunden's disruptions and outbursts during his Advanced History class, Mr. Moore casts Dennis to Remedial History where he leads a group of under achievers towards self confidence in their scholastic while proving that he too can behave like a mature adult.

One new classmate is seen playing a handheld videogame he called "Commando".  The episode originally aired April 1989 so I'm left to guess that it was either an authentic Nintendo Game & Watch portable or else a Radio Shack Tandy.    

Sesame Street Season 32 Jan 1 2001 episode 3916
During Elmo's segment called 'Elmo's World: Computers' a boy is seen using a computer which has a Playstation original perched atop  This segment is also found on the 2002 made for tv video staring Telly called 'Computer Caper'

[maryfink]

great list! I didn't hear about this games