Probably the apex of parody and self-reference can be found in one of the most successful television shows of all-time, Seinfeld. Constantly referred to as “a show about nothing” by pundits and critics, the show introduced an ensuing seasonal arc that involved two of its main characters “pitching” television executives on a show that features stories in which “nothing happens.”
In fact, meta has become such a popular concept that, before we have even seen postmodernism end, a new distinction of our era, metamodernism or post-postmodernism, has already begun to take shape. It’s kind of like how the natural generational flow of Generation X and Generation Y have been co-opted by the Millennials.