5

Don Draper's Entire Backstory Was A Simpsons Episode (Which Nobody Liked)

Simpsons creator Matt Groening claims that only one episode in the history of the long-running show truly jumped the shark: "The Principal And The Pauper," in which it is revealed that Principal Skinner is an impostor. Fans generally agreed that the plot made for a terrible Simpsons episode. However, a decade later, everyone also agreed that it worked a lot better as the basis of a sexy prestige period drama.

In 2007, America met Don Draper, the successful ad exec and mysterious protagonist of Mad Men. As the first season goes on, we find out that Don Draper is in fact Dick Whitman, an orphan who lived in the most depressing parts of the Depression. When he ran off to join the army, he found himself serving in the Korean War under a lieutenant named ... Don Draper. Long flashback short, Dick accidentally gets the lieutenant killed, swaps dog tags with him, wakes up in a hospital with everyone thinking he's Draper, and never bothers to correct anyone.

Lionsgate Television

Lionsgate TelevisionDick move, Whitman.

4

The Hateful Eight Bears A Striking Resemblance To An Episode Of An Old Western TV Show

The Rebel was a low-budget cowpoke TV serial in the early 1960s which ran for only two short seasons. However, it clearly had a fan in Quentin Tarantino. Let us know if this sounds familiar: In an episode called "Fair Game," former Confederate soldier Johnny Yuma's horse dies in the wilderness, leaving him stranded. Luckily, he stumbles upon a stagecoach. Unluckily, inside that coach is a bounty hunter transporting an outlaw femme fatale. As darkness falls, the group hunkers down in a cabin until morning, all wary of each other. Then the bounty hunter is poisoned and the ex-Confederate has to solve the whodunit before he gets got as well.

Shout! Factory

The Weinstein CompanySurprisingly, both also feature scenes wherein Samuel L. Jackson gets his junk blown off.

3

South Park Stole A Plot About Drinking Your Own Bodily Fluids To Win At Sports

The Emmy-winning cult stop-motion show Moral Orel was a Davey And Goliath parody about Orel, a religious kid who often takes the word of the Bible a bit too literally. In a 2005 episode, he learns that it's a sin to waste anything, including his urine. So Orel starts drinking his own pee, believing that God is a fan of water sports. Incidentally, he gets better at running track around the same time. When his coach asks him what the secret is, all the other kids are put on his special "juice" regimen. That's how Orel winds up selling his urine to his teammates like it's Drug Test Friday.

Williams Street

2

Downton Abbey Stole A Subplot From A Classic Movie

In Episode 5 of the first season of Downton Abbey, a peculiar subplot focuses on Dowager Countess Violet Crawley's flower competition. Somehow, Lady Violet wins the competition, despite the fact that lowly servant Bill Molesley has obviously crafted the best rose (obviously). Afterward, Violet's granddaughter tells her that she only wins because no one dares vote against her. Stung by the insinuation that she only wins through her status, Violet protests, but eventually realizes Bill has the better flower and gives the commoner her prize, thus ending classism forever.

ITV Studios

ITV Studios"Prize money? Don't be absurd."

1

The Simpsons And Family Guy Had Very Similar Storylines About Dog Sex

In The Simpsons episode "Two Dozen And One Greyhounds," family dog Santa's Little Helper is tearing up the house out of horny frustration. Eventually he runs away from home and to the dog racetrack. He sprints onto the track in the middle of a race in order to "get to know" a female greyhound, She's The Fastest, who has no chance of winning the race with another dog now on top of her. But because this is a sort of a family show, the two animals can't just bang it out and go their separate ways -- they fall in love and become proud parents of many puppies.

20th TelevisionFor them, it's just called regular style.

Six years later, in the Family Guy episode "Screwed The Pooch," Brian meets Seabreeze, the Pewterschmidts' prized greyhound. When they go to attend her race at the dog track, Brian can't resist, sprints onto the track in the middle of a race right as she's about to win, and gives her a very loving Simpsons reference.

20th Television"No, see, they're facing the other direction. Totally different."