It would be 25 years, despite the comedian Gallagher's best efforts, until someone made oranges laughed at and feared simultaneously, until LOST where John Locke utilised an orange to such disturbing and comedic effect, continuing the orange related japery legacy, that Marlon Brando and Dan Ackroyd had adherred to those years before.
Their clues are rooted in reality though. Characters with surnames like "Hawking" "Locke" "Faraday" "Hume" etc all are names of people in real life noted for things that allude to the central theme of what lays beyond the curtain. More of it pulls together in S5.
So at least we know that the occasionally languid Stephen Kingesquestyle is not lazy writing. Thats what makes it so immersive/interactive. What other serial drama would allude to and ask that you understand a little of advanced quantum theory and paradoxless time travel dilemmas and ofther such cerebral pursuits...? You dont get that shit on Beverly Hills 902102009 or whatever the f**k other shows are on right now.
Nothing short of televisual Genius.