Popular References to National Geographic

[Cathy Hunter]

For many years we have tried to maintain a list of references made to
National Geographic in movies, TV shows, cartoons, and books.  Staff
members occasionally send us e-mails letting us know of something
they've come across and we add it to our database.  Now we'd love to
hear from you.  What follows is a stripped-down list from our
database--just titles with no explanatory text in the interest of saving
space.  Please look through the list and send us a note if you spot an
omission.  (Note: the list is roughly in chronological order.)  Thank you!

1. It's A Wonderful Life
2.  Esquire Magazine
3.  Andy Griffith Show
4.  Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
5. The New Yorker Magazine
6. Badlands
7.  Save the Tiger
8. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
9.  A Time to Die
10.  Jaws
11. One Day At A Time
12.  One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
13. Deep
14.  Taxi
15.  On Golden Pond
16. Valley Girl
17. Brighton Beach Memoirs
18. Twilight Zone: The Movie
19.  Jewel of the Nile
20.  Calvin and Hobbes
21. Far Side
22.  100 Years : Spoofing the Geographic
23.  Gorillas in the Mist
24. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
25.  Seinfeld
26. Joe Versus the Volcano
27.  Northern Exposure: "Dreams,Schemes & Putting Greens" episode
28.  Tremors
29.  Mad About You
30.  Frasier : Beloved Infidel
31. Apollo 13
32. Beetlejuice
33. Bridges of Madison County
34.  Waterworld
35.  James and the Giant Peach
36.  Flubber
37. From the Earth to the Moon (Episode 6)
38. That 70's Show
39. "Late Night with David Letterman"
40.  Trivial Pursuit Millenium Edition
41. Better Than Sex
42. Pay It Forward
43. The Outer Limits (The Movie)
44. The Simpsons
45. Proof of Life
46. Vertical Limit
47. McBeal, Ally : Reach Out and Touch
48. Nobody's Baby
49. Sherman's Lagoon
50. Six Feet Under
51. The Royal Tenenbaums
52. The Travel Detective
53. West Wing
54. Lord of the Kill
55. Sherman's Lagoon
56. Snow Dogs
57. That's Life
58. The Postwoman
59. World Wrestling Entertainment Smackdown
60. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
61. Dead Zone
62. Easter Island
63. Jeopardy!

[George Thomas Wilson]

Cathy,

This is an awesome list!  I just happened to run across it last night.  I appreciate the effort involved.

Tom Wilson

[Cathy Hunter]

Hi Tom,

  So glad you are enjoying the list!

Best wishes,

Cathy

[Scott T. Shier]

One of my ever-favorite things to do is to always be alert visually, for NGM's on a bookshelf, or laying out on a table somewhere in a scene of a program (usually films, but also TV). 

Some off the top of my head that I have noted just recently....as in, seen on screen , not verbalized.

Parenthood (1990)

Freaks and Geeks (tv show, 1999/2000)

Seinfeld (early season, Jerry's hallway)

A Merry Friggin' Christmas (2014)

etc. , etc.

I've often wanted to jump up, pause the dvd, and take a picture to show here, haha.

[George Thomas Wilson]

Scott,

I was planning on updating my Cultural Fixture post in the Outside Looking In group (especially the TV and Movie sections) to reflect Cathy's list (and now your additions).  It will obviously take some time but it is a labor of love.

Yours in Collecting,

Tom

[George Thomas Wilson]

Cathy,

Over the last three months, I've been trying to expand my list of cultural references to include most of your list.

During my search, I found a website of searchable movie quotes (it includes TV show as well).  By typing in "National Geographic" I found 256 references.  By typing in "Nat Geo" I found 8 more.  After eliminating NGC shows and tie-ins like PBS's NOVA, I still came up with over 100 movies and 100 TV episodes.  This site give a sentence or part of a sentence and the time of it's appearance.  Using this information I searched movie and TV scripts and, wherever possible to put that sentence into context.

One caveat of this search is that it doesn't cover what I like to call cameos by the magazine, i.e. appearances of a magazine or collection in a scene, but no actual reference.  I did find a few of these either as a written screen description or as a screen capture.

Feel free to update your database to reflect all of these additions, as well as the many magazine article I documented earlier.  All of these are listed in Scott's Group, Outside Looking In.

Tom Wilson

[Cathy Hunter]

Tom,

  Thank you so much for letting me know about Scott's Group. That will be a handy reference for us.

Best wishes,

Cathy