10 TV Shows You Didn't Realise Were Set In The Same Universe

Friends and Mad About You were both airing on NBC in the 90s, and they actually established an NBC sitcom shared universe. And it's all thanks to Ursula Buffay. 

In Friends, it's revealed that Phoebe has a twin sister named Ursula, a ditzy waitress who everyone confuses for her. But Ursula also appeared on an episode of Mad About You, and in fact, that episode came before Friends.

Yes, Lisa Kudrow was cast as Ursula on Mad About You before Friends was even a thing. When she got the part as Phoebe, the writers thought it would be fun to explain her Mad About You appearance by having the characters be twin sisters. So Phoebe most likely wouldn't have even had a twin sister at all if Mad About You never existed. 

There's even an episode of Friends where Helen Hunt, who played Jamie on Mad About You, makes an appearance at Central Perk and mistakes Phoebe for Ursula. 

But wait, that's not all. In an episode of Mad About You, Kramer has a cameo as the new owner of Paul's apartment. So if Seinfeld is in the same universe as Mad About You, that means it's also in the same universe as Friends. At some point, George Costanza and Joey Tribbiani probably passed each other on the streets of New York City. That is unbelievable.