MUNCHING LUTHER

While I was on vacation, MediumRob of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left, folks!) let me in on an email he got:

In the penultimate episode, there was a line which ties the show into Homicide: Life on the Street and Law & Order...

They said something like "Get New York on the phone. Ask for Detective Munch of the Special Victims Unit. Bizarre!

I checked it out on tv.com which had some more details:

Luther says to his young officer, "Contact Detective Munch in New York; he works in the Special Victims Unit." Detective John Munch is a character in the U.S crime drama.
So another show is added to Munch's extensive resume, probably insuring that he would never be overthrown as the Crossover King.

'Homicide: Life On The Street'

"Homicide: The Movie"

'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'

'Law & Order'

'Law & Order: Trial By Jury'

'The X-Files'
'The Wire'

'The Beat'

'Arrested Development'

And now he's mentioned on 'Luther'.

I'm surprised by the omission of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' from this list. (Granted, I got this list from the IMDb - hardly the most reliable of sources - but I'm sure I would have heard about him being on the show.) We've lost the opportunity to see him interact with Detective Bobby Goren, but wouldn't it be neat to see him meet Zack Nichols?

Detective John Munch exists as a puppet, thanks to 'Sesame Street', but that's not a legitimate appearance. Puppets are spirit beings who inhabit shells to give them visible form and they adopt the persona of that shell. So this puppet was a Munch wannabe:
Munch can also be found in the sketch comedy TV dimension of Skitlandia. Back in October of 2009, Richard Belzer played the role for a quick bit on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live':

Now, Kimmel mentions the French version of 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' - "Paris enquêtes criminelles" - as being one of the shows in which Munch has appeared. And Belzer confirms it by telling the audience "It's all true." Yet I haven't found any mention yet that he ever appeared in any episode from that show's three seasons. And he lives part time in France, so it's not like it would have been a hassle to be him over there.

I'm also uncertain if Munch ever appeared in animated form on a show like 'The Simpsons' or 'Family Guy'.

But it's an impressive list so far, and he may yet have another show to add when 'Law & Order: Los Angeles' airs in the fall.

A quick note to CBS and ABC - you'd be helping yourself if you could get Detective Munch to appear on one of your shows. (CBS especially has the right showcase - 'CSI: NY'!) It's too late now, but he should have shown up in an episode of 'The Unusuals'.......

BCnU!