another possibility
That the "crossover" were not really crossovers, but just a weird promotional stunt on NBC's part to get ratings?
I've seen this done on plenty of shows before, characters would dream of being in another cinematic universe.
See "Friends" and "Mad About You" -- those are crossovers
My take on the whole dream thing is that his son was imagining that his fathers life was a dream. It was way for the child to cope with his fathers pain and loss.
Agreed, the whole show was real, and the dream thing was just a kid dreaming that it was a dream; ergo, everything continued, including Cheers and Fraiser - all in the same fictional universe!
shareHowever, when Ed Flanders comes home he is dressed like a blue collar worker and not like how he was normally dressed. So that would add validity to whole series being a dream....I hated the old idea of the show being a dream by the way.
shareSo this little kid dreamed that his father mooned somebody?
shareThank you. I loved this show and the final episode has always depressed me. That's a good, logical explanation.
shareIt's just a TV show and so are the others.