Yesterday, we read a great article over at NPR entitled “In A Fragmented Cultureverse, Can Pop References Still Pop?,” which ruminates on the way insider references work in our wide-sprawling cultural consciousness. Here at Flavorpill, we’re (obviously) big fans of the pop culture reference, and the article got us thinking about all our favorite cultural inside jokes — in particular, a few of our favorite TV episodes that pay homage to other great cultural artifacts. After the jump, our picks for the greatest pop culture homage TV episodes — but since taste is everything, and we haven’t watched all the television we probably should have, be sure to add to our list in the comments!
Community — “Critical Film Studies” (My Dinner with Andre)
Not only is this episode a wonderful homage to My Dinner with Andre, but it also features a B-plot where all the characters dress up as characters from Pulp Fiction and manages to be a stellar episode in terms of character development and pure fun. My Dinner with Andre is popular homage bait (Frasier did it memorably as well), perhaps because of its simplicity — it’s just two people talking about life over dinner. But Community did it so well that in the end, it turned out to be a bit more than just a gag.

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