Question: If I call `console.log('something');` from the popup page, or any script included off that it works fine.

However as the background page is not directly run off the popup page it is not included in the console.

Is there a way that I can get `console.log()`'s in the background page to show up in the console for the popup page?

is there any way to, from the background page call a function in the popup page?

Answer: 
You can open the background page's console if you click on the "background.html" link in the extensions list.

To access the background page that corresponds to your extensions open `Settings / Extensions` or open a new tab and enter `chrome://extensions`. You will see something like this screenshot. 

![Chrome extensions dialogue](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Xulbx.png)

Under your extension click on the link `background page`. This opens a new window. 
For the **[context menu sample](https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/samples#context-menus-sample)** the window has the title: `_generated_background_page.html`.
You can still use console.log(), but it gets logged into a separate console.
In order to view it - right click on the extension icon and select "Inspect popup".