Fun TV Fact – Which TV Character holds the record of appearing in more different TV Shows?

With the growing popularity of TV series spinoffs and crossovers there are more and more characters that go from one show to another whether it is for one appearance or for a permanent time.

Everyone can remember Kelsey Grammer playing Frasier Crane on Cheers and then on his own spinoff Frasier. Or Lisa Kudrow playing Ursula Buffay on Mad About You and Friends (Ursula was Phoebe’s twin sister).

This kind of appearances are fun to see and are able to happen because the character in both or more shows it appears are in some sort from the same universe. For example, Mad About You and Friends were set in New York in the same time. Even Helen Hunt’s character Jamie Buchman from Mad About You also made a little cameo on Friends along with Fran Devanow played by Leila Kenzle.

Anyway, do you want to know which TV character holds the record for appearing in the most number of different shows? It is…

Detective John Munch! He is a record breaking character. He has appeared on eight different series on four different networks (NBC, FOX, UPN and HBO).

But who is this Detective Munch? He is a fictional character played by actor and stand-up comic Richard Belzer. Detective Munch appeared on the small screen for the first time in 1993 on NBC’s Baltimore-based Homicide: Life on the Street (one movie and 119 episodes). After Homicide was cancelled in 1999, Detective Munch moved to New York and joined the team of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit were he currently resides.

Belzer has played Detective Munch on several other series:

• Law & Order – NBC
• The X Files (1997) – FOX
• The Beat (2000) – UPN
• Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005) – NBC
• Arrested Development (2006) – FOX
• The Wire (2008) – HBO

Other Munch appearances include:

• 30 Rock, episode ¡Qué Sorpresa! Where the characters are watching a SVU episode, with a script written specially for the comedy show.





• A Very Brady Sequel, Belzer plays a LAPD detective similar to Munch.

• Sesame Street, there is a Detective Much muppet for the sketch Law & Order: Special Letter Unit.
• Luther, is a UK crime drama and Detective Munch is mentioned as an American contact for the series Serious Crime Unit (SCU).

So there you have it, another fun TV fact. Hope you enjoy it as much as I like researching it. Also in case you find any mistake or something we are missing please let us know.

Until next time,

Geek4TV