Welcome back to The Penny Men, where universes overlap, backdoor pilots sneak in, and the facts are fuzzier than a Yoshi after a sugar rush! This week, Ben, Tom, and Gregory peel back the curtain on shared universes and backdoor pilots — those sly spin-off setups hiding inside your favorite shows, games, and cartoons!

From Happy Days launching Mork & Mindy to Donkey Kong spawning Mario, we dive into the sprawling Nintendo multiverse! Mario, DK, Banjo, Conker, Wario, Yoshi — and even Sonic crashing the party at the Olympics! Cameos, crossovers, and confused timelines abound!

Whether it’s Smash Bros-level mashups or layered actor-versus-character realities, this episode is your backstage pass to pop culture’s most tangled webs!

Top Backdoor Pilots & Spin-Offs Explored:

• Happy Days → Laverne & Shirley → Mork & Mindy
• Perfect Strangers → Family Matters
• All in the Family → The Jeffersons → Maude → Good Times
• Donkey Kong → Mario Bros. → Wario Land → Yoshi’s Island
• Diddy Kong Racing → Banjo-Kazooie → Conker’s Bad Fur Day

Notable Shared Universe Cameos & Crossovers:

• Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (multiverse or neighborhood block party?)
• Super Mario Bros. Super Show meets WWF, Ghostbusters, Inspector Gadget
• Mario RPG cameo sleepover: Link & Samus snoozing awkwardly together
• Namco’s crossover webcomic shenanigans: Dig Dug, Tekken, Pac-Man all in the mix
• Capcom vs. SNK, Smash Bros., and the ultimate video game multiverse mashup

One-Liners to Drop at Your Next Game Night:

• “Mario wasn’t just jumping barrels, he was jumping into a whole new franchise!”
• “Donkey Kong gave us a backdoor pilot before backdoor pilots were cool.”
• “Smash Bros is less a crossover and more a family reunion gone wild.”
• “Sonic crashing the Mario Olympics? That’s one way to break the space-time continuum.”

Hop on the warp pipe and join us as we map the wild, weird, and wonderfully interconnected worlds of video game and TV spin-offs!