Comments (22)

1. In Mike Judge’s ‘King of the Hill’, the Mexican soap opera Peggy watches, ‘Los Dias y Las Noches’, was spun off into a live-action pilot. Full of scathing satire and social commentary, Fox didn’t pick up the show because of fear of offending Catholics with its priest/assassin protagonist.

   posted by TMo on 2-19-2008 at 10:33 am

2. In Survivorman, Les Stroud carries all 50+ lbs. of his camera equipment throughout the 7 day challenge, but cannot use any of it it to survive. To create the dramatic effect of walking through the wilderness, he must first set up the camera, film himself walking far away, then come back and pick up the camera. He expends twice the energy to get the scene, and usually has no food or water with him when he’s dropped at a site.

   Conversely, in Man vs. Wild, Bear Grylls has a camera crew following him around. He usually stays at a much more comfortable local hotel with the crew, then ‘presents himself with survival situations’ to show his knowledge of survival skills.

   posted by Valerie on 2-19-2008 at 10:41 am

3. In the pilot episode for The Cosby Show, the sign outside of Dr. Huxtable’s office says his name is Clifford Huxtable, but for every episode after that he’s Heathcliff Huxtable.

   posted by Bee on 2-19-2008 at 10:48 am

4. The most pre-”Final Jeopardy” earnings in Jeopardy’s history were accumulated by a high schooler in the Jeopardy “Teen Tournament.” The mop headed misfit racked up a whopping $40,000 only to lose alost half of it in Final Jeopardy.

   posted by Gary on 2-19-2008 at 10:48 am

5. Who replaced the actor Dick York, playing Samantha’s husband, in Bewitched?

   Answer: Dick Sergeant. Guess she couldn’t stay away from those funny Dicks!

   posted by Valerie on 2-19-2008 at 11:20 am

6. In the 80’s, Laurence Fishburne (”Morpheus” from The Matrix Trilogy) had a recurring role as Cowboy Curtis on Peewee’s Playhouse.

   posted by ED on 2-19-2008 at 11:22 am

7. In the unfortunately short-lived series, Journeyman, Dan’s cell phone is an Apple iPhone…on a number of occassions he’s seen using it upside-down.

   posted by Elizabeth on 2-19-2008 at 1:14 pm

8. The reason they changed the lyrics of the Gilligan’s Island theme to include “the Professor and MaryAnne” instead of “and the rest” was that Bob Denver (Gilligan) said that he would like to be included with “the rest” in order to give his co-stars their due credit.

   posted by Scott on 2-19-2008 at 1:16 pm

9. Micky Dolenz of The Monkees got his start in tv as (a very blonde)Micky Braddock in the 1950 series, Circus Boy.

   posted by beth on 2-19-2008 at 1:35 pm

10. More Monkee Trivia:

    2 “screen tests” were shown as add ons when shows ran short. They were the tests of Davy Jones and Michael Nesmith (who was then going by the name of Michael Blessing and had already recorded a 45 under that name). The tests were done on the set of “The Farmer’s Daughter” of which Davy Jones had done a guest shot.

    posted by beth on 2-19-2008 at 1:37 pm

11. Greg Brady’s sometime girlfriend, Rachel (remember she ended up with a frog on her head) was played by creator Sherwood Schwartz’s daughter, Hope. Hope went on to marry Wings’ guitarist, Laurence Juber, who in turn did some of the music for A Very Brady Christmas and the short lived “dramady” The Bradys (which featured former Mtv v-j, Martha Quinn as Bobby Brady’s girlfriend).

    posted by beth on 2-19-2008 at 1:40 pm

12. Trying to capitalize on the resurgent interest in the Monkees in the 1980s; The New Monkees was created to cash in. The syndicated show started (where are they now? Who are they now?) Jared Chandler, Marty Ross and Larry Saltis. It lasted 13 episodes and spawned one (forgettable) album.

    posted by beth on 2-19-2008 at 1:48 pm

13. I have two:

    In the pilot episode (and maybe the rest of the first season) of Full House Jesse’s last name was not Katsopolis, but was Cochran.

    During the taping of “Lucy is Enceinte” Desi Arnaz was supposed to whoop with joy when he learned Lucy was pregnant with their first child. Thing is, she was pregnant in real life, and everyone knew it. When the time came for the scene, Desi teared up and gathered Lucy tenderly into his arms. The scene was kept as was and the whoop of joy was axed.

    posted by jenni on 2-19-2008 at 2:19 pm

14. In the Muppet Show the Swedish Chef was performed by Jim Henson in the main part of the puppet and Frank Oz doing the arms. Quite often Henson had no idea what Oz was going to do with the Chef’s hands and just had to run with it. Thus adding to the hilarity of the scene.

    posted by Emily King on 2-19-2008 at 3:25 pm

15. David Boreanez had a long time agreement with his girlfriend during the filming of Buffy the Vampire Slayer – every time he kissed another actress on stage, he had to buy her a new outfit.

    posted by Sarah on 2-19-2008 at 4:07 pm

16. In the show Xena, Warrior Princess, Renee O’Connor and Lucy Lawless have been listed in the Top 10 Celebrity Females – Hot to Trot list for years, with “the sidekick” always coming in ahead.

    posted by Sarah H. on 2-19-2008 at 4:12 pm

17. The voice of Orko from ‘He-Man and the Masters of the Universe’ was performed by Lou Scheimer. Scheimer is also noted as the voice of Dumb Donald on ‘Fat Albert’, two characters with hats that obscure a large portion of their face. Coincidence? We think not…

    posted by rexology on 2-19-2008 at 4:57 pm

18. What three TV shows were connected to Hooterville?

    Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies

    posted by Pete on 2-19-2008 at 5:07 pm

19. Just saw an old 1991 Law & Order with Lewis Black playing a porn film director.

    posted by Paul on 2-19-2008 at 5:34 pm

20. A popular urban legend claims that Steven Burns, the original host of the preschool television show Blue’s Clues, “left” the show because he died of a heroin overdose. The real reason? He left because he was loosing his hair, and didn’t want kids to know he was going bald.

    What does he do now? The most natural job one can take after being a children’s TV show host for five years: Leader of an indie rock band.

    posted by Freezair on 2-20-2008 at 1:38 am

21. Lake Cherokee Golf Course in Longview, TX installed barriers around their greens after Matthew McConoughey and friends drove over them with 4 wheelers in the early 90’s. (Told to me by a member of the country club)

    posted by tommy on 2-20-2008 at 2:40 pm

22. The first actor to have major/recurring roles on prime time shows on all three major networks at the same time was Patrick Warburton.

    He played Eric (Dave Barry’s secretary’s boyfriend)on Dave’s World on CBS, Jack (the cop who dated one of Ellen’s friends) on These Friends of Mine (starring Ellen DeGeneres) on ABC, and, of course he was Putty on Seinfeld on NBC.

    Later, by the way, he starred as The Tick on Fox.

    He has done lots of other characters and voices all over the dial, but for one fleeting moment he pulled the trifecta.

    posted by Max on 2-20-2008 at 2:44 pm

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