Top 11 Most Meta TV Shows

By CJ Tiernan

I like to watch TV shows that make me laugh. Some of the most fun comedy is the comedy that is born of breaking free of its previously established conventions or commenting on the standard conventions and styles. Meta means self-referential, as in referencing itself or its own genre. Below, I've compiled a list of the TV Shows I consider to be the most meta, or best at being self-referential. Please enjoy and feel free to offer up your own list in the comments. Again, just to clarify, these ranking are not my favorite TV shows that are meta, but the shows I've seen that I found to be the most meta, ranked in the degree to which I deemed their meta-ness.

1. Phineas and Ferb

Years: 2007-2015, 2025-present

Seasons (Episodes): 5 (150)

This animated show follows two young brothers (the titular Phineas and Ferb) occupying their summer vacation by creating and developing insanely elaborate inventions for the fun and enjoyment of themselves and their friends in the neighborhood. Their older sister is incessantly attempting to "bust" her brothers by getting their mom to see what the boys are up to. From building a rollercoaster to dimension hopping, these boys are brilliant and completely oblivious to their sisters attempts to thwart them. They are also completely oblivious to the fact their pet Platypus (Perry) is a secret agent constantly stopping the local evil scientist, dressed like a pharmacist, from taking over the tri-state area. The comical rigidity in the formula, along with occasional comments that break the fourth wall, create a delightfully meta experience.

2. The Rehearsal

Years: 2022-present

Seasons (Episodes): 2 (12)

This show breaks the mind with its approach to comedy. It follows Nathan Fielder as someone with a bizarre curiosity and interest in helping real people overcome tricky conversations in their lives. They are specific conversations with someone that need to be had and Fielder, playing a fictionalized version of himself, helps create elaborate sets that painstakingly recreate the location wherein the convo will take place to help work out all the variables. He then hires actors who attempt to play all of the roles in this location to see how it can play out. You've got to see it to feel how odd and uncomfortable and hilarious it is.

3. Community

Years: 2009-2015

Seasons (Episodes): 6 (110)

Keith McDuffee from Northborough, MA, USA, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Community refers to a Community College. It follows a study group of seven people from very different walks of life who are going to college at varying ages and for varying reasons. The show is able to alternate between absurd comedy and genuine heart. It also has several episodes that dive headlong into spoofing different genres and styles. The cast is amazing but the character Abed helps this show get this high on the list as he is a huge movie and TV fan who behaves as though he is in a TV show and comments on the various goings on to riotous effect. They also have some epic running gags. Google the Beetlejuice one!

4. Solar Opposites

Years: 2020-present

Seasons (Episodes): 5 (53)

Another animated show, Solar Opposites follows a group of aliens who behave as a family after crash-landing on Earth. They were sent from their home planet to colonize a new one and are not great at it. They also look like aliens and live life on Earth with very little commentary on their appearance. The show has meta moments all over the place, including in the opening credits where the voice over is done by the the main character and he talks to the audience. There are frequent pop culture references that break the fourth wall and lots of really crazy other stuff, like the growing number of people that are shrunken down and placed in "The Wall."

5. Rick and Morty

Years: 2013-present

Seasons (Episodes): 8 (81)

The second animated show in a row that was co-created by Justin Roiland, Rick and Morty follows a mad-scientist grandfather that brings his grandson with him through various escapades through time and space. He is both a brilliant scientist and a terrible person. I should mention that even though he co-created both shows and voiced the main characters, Roiland was "canceled" and replaced on both this show and Solar Opposites. This show not only makes obscure pop culture references but comments on those references and how obscure they are. They break the fourth wall a lot too.

6. Arrested Development

Years: 2003-2006, 2013-2019

Seasons (Episodes): 5 (84)

This is a show that follows a dysfunctional family trying to get back on track after the patriarch is imprisoned due to "some light treason." This show is the king of the running gag. Repeated lines by different characters happen throughout an episode or even over the course of a season. The show also has a narrator (Ron Howard!) who breaks the fourth wall, like when he acknowledges that the actress playing a character has changed. This show is one of the funniest shows of all time and extremely rewatchable.

7. 30 Rock

Years: 2006-2013

Seasons (Episodes): 7 (138)

30 Rock is a show that follows the behind-the-scenes side of a fictionalized version of Saturday Night Live. It features executives, writers, and performers and their various conflicts with one another. This show constantly breaks the fourth wall and generates self-referential humor and has a character go off his meds and shout that he is on a show within a show and shouts his real name, which is the name of the actor playing the character. 30 Rock even uses music cues to play on classic troupes from other shows.

8. Animaniacs

Years: 1993-1998

Seasons (Episodes): 5 (99)

This is an animated show with 3 siblings (The Warners) from the golden age of black and white movies and TV that were locked in a water tower for being too zany and when they break out, they prove they were, in fact, too zany. The episodes usually consist of several different cartoon shorts, but the ones that feature Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner are full of people you might have found on the Warner Brothers' lot at the time of the show and exorbitant animated hijinx. The characters also break the fourth wall.

9. Supernatural

Years: 2005-2020

Seasons (Episodes): 15 (327)

This show ran for an incredibly long time for a live-action show and managed to touch on a lot of different tropes. It follows Sam and Dean Winchester as brothers who grew up to follow in their dad's footsteps of hunting demons and other supernatural phenomena around the country. The show often plays things very straight and very serious, which makes the times they go off the rails all the more compelling. In one episode, the characters get mistaken for the actors that play the characters in the TV show. In another episode, their many adventures become a book series and they have tons of swooning fans. They even end up getting sucked into an old TV cartoon. Again, a lot of episodes, but worth it for the delightful meta moments.

10. Family Guy

Years: 1999-2002, 2005-present

Seasons (Episodes): 24 (445)

This animated show follows Peter Griffin and his family and friends in the fictional Rhode Island city of Quahog. Every episode is a vehicle for its signature brand of humor: the flashback. This show constantly makes pop culture references and showcases the humor by throwing to these obscure references. The show also breaks the fourth wall a lot. In one episode, two of the characters travel back in time to the pilot episode of the show. The show runs on Fox and is no stranger to poking fun of its fellow Fox shows. Also worth the watch for the fascinating breadth of characters being voiced by show creator Seth MacFarlane.

11. South Park

Years: 1997-present

Seasons (Episodes): 27 (333)

South Park is animated show following four Elementary School boys living in a small town outside of Denver, CO. The show is famous for its animation style, which started as construction paper cut-outs of people and places (now done with computers) and its crude language and humor. It has characters that break the fourth wall and reference the show (both on screen and behind-the-scenes). Most memorably, it had an entire episode of generating ideas, only to get the repeated rejection phrase thrown back: "Simpsons did it!"

Final Thoughts

It was tough bringing the list down to 11, as there are a lot of shows great at self-referential humor. I will include a list at the bottom including the ones that just missed the cut on my Top 11 list. I do quite enjoy most of the shows on this list and highly recommend checking them out. I do feel a slight need to clarify that this list has nothing to do with the artist formally known as "The Facebook", as the company is now also named Meta. Here are some more great meta shows:

Episodes (2011-2017)

Seinfeld (1989-1998)

BoJack Horseman (2014-2020)

Scrubs (2001-2010)

Spaced (1999-2001)