The Show: "The Muppet Show"
The Show Within the Show: "The Muppet Show"
Created By: Kermit the Frog
What It's About: Like "The Ed Sullivan Show" if Topo Gigio was the talent booker, "The Muppet Show" was a weekly variety program that featured skits, daredevil acts and musical numbers.
Fun Fact: The guys who always heckled from the balcony, Statler and Waldorf, now offer color commentary -- now about films -- on the Web site Movies.com.
Would We Watch It If It Was a Show Without a Show? Any show that has Dizzy Gillespie, John Cleese, Dr. John, Steve Martin and Alice Cooper cavorting with carpet remnants is OK by us.

The Show: "The Larry Sanders Show"
The Show Within the Show: "The Larry Sanders Show"
Created By: Dennis Klein and Garry Shandling
What's It About: A late-night talk show in the vein of "The Tonight Show" (well, when Johnny Carson was the host), as hosted by the perpetually self-doubting Sanders (Shandling).
Fun Fact: Sanders was inspired, in part, by Shandling's stint as a "Tonight Show" guest host.
Would We Watch It If It Was a Show Without a Show? As with all late-night talk shows, we'd probably only watch it if Sanders had someone good on that night. Y'know, like Garry Shandling.

The Show: "Saturday Night Live"
The Show Within the Show: "Weekend Update"
Created By: Lorne Michaels
What It's About: The show's news segment, "Weekend Update," is kind of the proto-"Daily Show," but without the moment of Zen at the end.
Fun Fact: "Weekend Update" was, most recently, co-hosted by Tina Fey, who announced this summer that she was leaving it, and "SNL," to co-star in her own show (and show within a show), the aforementioned "30 Rock."
Would We Watch It If It Was a Show Without a Show? Yes, considering that for the last couple years it's been the only funny part of "SNL."

The Show: "The Comeback"
The Show Within the Show: "The Comeback"
Created By: Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King
What It's About: A reality show that follows former sitcom star Valerine Cherish as she tries to make ... wait for it ... a comeback with her new sitcom, "Room and Bored."
Fun Fact: Though the show only lasted one season, suggesting that no one liked it, actor/director Kevin Smith recently expressed his appreciation for "The Comeback" while sitting in for Roger Ebert on "Ebert & Roeper at the Movies." Which makes one person who liked it.
Would We Watch It If It Was a Show Without a Show? Considering that we didn't watch "The Comeback" ...

The Show: "The Simpsons"
The Show Within the Show: "The Krusty the Klown Show Show"
The Show Within The Show That Is, Itself, Within a Show: "The Itchy & Scratchy Show"
Created By: Herschel Pinkus Yerucham Krustofsky ("The Krusty the Klown Show"); Roger Meyers Sr. ("The Itchy & Scratchy Show"), though the character of Itchy was legally created by Chester J. Lampwick
What It's About: Krusty is an afternoon of merriment, cartoon violence and product placement, as hosted by the sixth best TV clown ever, while "I&S" -- a "Tom & Jerry"-esque 'toon about a cat-hating mouse and the cat who hates him -- is the cartoon they show in between commercials.
Fun Fact: Besides his current foil, Sideshow Mel, and his nemesis, Sideshow Bob, Krusty's sidekicks have also included Sideshow Raheem, Sideshow Marge and Sideshow Luke Perry. Similarly celeb-obsessed, "I&S" episodes have been directed by Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone.
Would We Watch It If It Was a Show Without a Show? "Itchy & Scratchy"? Yes, we love cartoon violence (and hate cats). But "Krusty"? Probably not (it skews a little young for us).