I have never seen that TV Program ( I looked up your Hofstadter) who was possibly named after the Author of Godel Escher Bach. Could be.
I first saw that book in a Stars & Stripes in Germany. I wanted it so bad at the time, but was $13 Dollars which back then was a serious price for a book. I eventually did buy it. ‘Thanks TDY checks.’
Fascinating work which combines Art, Music, and Math to formulate concepts to all sorts of things. Back then the Computer languages were developing rapidly, but that book help me at least to understand certain fundamentals. That and it was frequently off the wall. I loved it.
Well now I gotta get that book. It sounds like a far stretch from the Big Bang Theory TV show, LOL.