'McHale's Navy' is a good example of a TV show from the Trueniverse also being a TV show in Earth Prime-Time. In a recent episode of 'Mad Men', Bobby Draper was watching an episode of the Navy sitcom set in WWII (even though he was being punished with a TV ban for ripping the wallpaper.)
But it's an even better example of how those shows within shows are not the exact same ones as seen in the real world.
This is because of the casting. In the original 'McHale's Navy', the stars were Ernest Borgnine as McHale, Joe Flynn as Captain Binghamton, and Tim Conway as Ensign Parker.
But not so in Toobworld! The televersions of Borgnine and Flynn are still playing their roles, but it's Bucky Bright playing Charles Parker instead of Conway. We learned this as Kenneth the Page gave Bucky a tour of the '30 Rock' hallways. (We also learned that in Toobworld, 'McHale's Navy' was an NBC show and not an ABC show as it is in the real world.)
Tim Conway played the role of Bucky Bright, which is why Ensign Parker looked the same in both versions of the show. The comic actor ended up winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for playing Bucky.
Before the series ended earlier this year, we never got a chance to see Bucky Bright again on '30 Rock'. And in the general scheme of things in world of television production, we'll probably never see him pop up again in some other show. As funny as Conway was in the role, Bucky isn't exactly the type of character who would get called upon to reprise the role elsewhere, like Detective Munch, Jose Jiminez, and Larry, Darryl, and Darryl....
But then... we do things differently at Toobworld Central!
In the "School Recital" episode of 'Mike & Molly', Mike and his partner Carl arrested a serial nudist named Brian. And he was played by Tim Conway.
I'm making the claim that Brian was Bucky Bright.
"Bucky" is not a name you give to a baby at his christening. It's a name you give to a cartoon rabbit. So "Bucky" was the elderly comic's nickname - and it's pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that his true first name was "Brian".
And this would disable the Zonk in 'Mike & Molly' Conway's character calls Mike "Captain Binghamton". Brian "Bucky" Bright was making a reference to the character in a TV show in which he once starred.
I feel that's a pretty solid "Game Of The Name" and I'm sticking to it.
Should Tim Conway show up again in some TV show in which his character's name doesn't contradict either of these two appearances, he'd be in the running for the Birthday Honors List for inclusion in the TV Crossover Hall Of Fame!
BCnU!
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