A copycat crime is a criminal act that is modeled or inspired by a previous crime. The term was first coined around 1916 due to the crimes that were inspired by Jack the Ripper.
When David Huddleston shows up as a guest star in a '70s show, look no further for the bad guy, it's him----always! In fact, he might look very familiar to '70s TV fans. That is because---3 months earlier---he had already played the exact same part, in the iconic Angels in Chains (1976)