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27 Temporarily Banned Episodes of Popular TV Shows
Over the years, a number of TV series have removed specific episodes from their rerun schedules. Some eventually return to the airwaves, while others may be serving a lifetime ban.
POP CULTURE
11 Shameless Comic Book Ads That Cost Us Our Allowance
If today's Generation Y and Z-ers accuse us Baby Boomers of being cynical and distrustful, well, I for one blame it all on comic books. How many of us who grew up in the 1960s and early '70s were lured by those enticing ads promising everything from X-Ray
11 Variations on "Keep Calm and Carry On"
The now-famous Keep Calm and Carry On poster was produced by the British Ministry of Information in 1939, as a quintessentially British statement of what to do in the event of German invasion. The poster actually wasn't circulated at the time, and only b
Cramming People Into a Thing: A Photo History
Phone Booth Cramming was a late-1950s fad with a simple premise: cram a phone booth full of dudes (and/or ladies) and take a picture before the people on the bottom suffocate. As you can imagine, this pastime was most popular among college students, and
Hunkerin': America's Most Boring Fad
Okay, this actually happened. In 1959, a group of Sigma Chi brothers at the University of Arkansas elevated squatting to a sport -- and it went viral. They invented a supremely lame (but apparently popular) fad: hunkerin'. From the Scottish term "hunk
The Other Doctors of Doctor Who
There are eleven Doctors on Doctor Who, right? Well, yes, but not exactly. Those are the "canonical eleven" — the official Doctors. But are you familiar with some of the others? 1. The Dalek Movie Doctor In the mid-60s, Dalek Fever was sweeping England.
TNG Season 8: The Best Twitter Feed for Star Trek Nerds
If you're a Trek fan, there's an embarrassment of riches for you on Twitter -- you can follow cast members including Wil Wheaton, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, heck -- even Shatner and Nimoy are tweeting! But while their feeds are great, they're not the be
The Scully Box
Gillian Anderson is much shorter than David Duchovny -- estimates of their actual heights vary, but there's roughly a 10" height difference there. So when the pair costarred on The X-Files, filming conversations posed a problem; getting both of their hea
6 Influential (and Awesome) Giant Japanese Robots
Any kid that grew up in the 1980s is familiar with giant Japanese robots like Voltron and Transformers. But those are just a small taste of the dozens of mechanical men that make up the "Super Robot" genre that has been popular in Japanese manga (comic bo
11 Items in Van Halen's Contract Rider (Including No Brown M&Ms)
Van Halen is back! Featuring David Lee Roth and three Van Halens, the band has reunited for a North American tour, and their new record was released just three days ago. So I thought I'd take a look back at the band's infamous early-1980s tour rider*, t
Where Did the Term "Pink Slip" Originate?
The Short Answer: No one knows, but the search has been interesting.The Long Answer: Getting a pink slip usually means you're fired.
The Final Years of The Three Stooges's Curly
n 1932, Jerome Howard joined The Three Stooges comedy team
119 Amazing Facts for National Trivia Day
Here's a little-known fact: January 4 is National Trivia Day! Let's celebrate with some of our favorite facts, pulled from our Amazing Fact Generator and the @mental_floss Twitter
The 25 Most Powerful Songs of the Past 25 Years
They’re not the most beautiful songs, or the most musically important. In fact, a few could literally drive you nuts. But the following tunes have made a difference somehow.
The Man Who Conlanged "Dothraki" for HBO's "Game of Thrones"
David J. Peterson is one of many conlangers: people who invent languages. His most recent work is the Dothraki tongue shown in HBO's "Game of Thrones"; the spoken language had to be invented for TV because it's rendered in English in the "Song of Ice an
5 Animals Playing Video Games
To make your Monday complete, I present you with a variety of videos featuring animals playing video games, along with analysis of whether they are good at the games. BEHOLD: 1. Real Lizard Eats Virtual Ants A bearded dragon plays "Ant Smasher," an A
11 Christmas Songs That Never Really Took Off
From The Beatles to Lady Gaga, some of the music world's biggest names are responsible for some of the holiday season's biggest clunkers.
Ferret-Down-Trousers - Something That I Hoped Wasn't Real
From the Yes, This Really Happens Department, I bring you the terrifying sport-slash-torture-ritual of Ferret Legging, also known as "put 'em down" and the much more descriptive "ferret-down-trousers." Yes, folks, here's how it works: you get yourself s
The Beatles's Bizarre 1960s Christmas Shows
By the 1963 Christmas season, The Beatles were already the biggest musical stars in the history of British entertainment. Which makes their live "The Beatles Christmas Shows" of 1963 and 1964 even more bizarre.
Tonight: Trek Nation on Science Channel
Set your DRVs for "Trek Nation" tonight (November 30, 2011) at 8pm ET/PT on the Science Channel. If you're going to watch one documentary about Star Trek, it should be Trekkies. But if you're going to watch two, the second should be Trek Nation, premi
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II, The Metal Years
Today on Network Awesome (warning: video auto-plays!), Heavy Metal Week continues with the classic documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II, The Metal Years. Directed by Penelope Spheeris (who later directed Wayne's World), the film has b
How an Empty Dessert Plate Inspired the Frisbee
On January 23, 1957, the Wham-O toy company began producing their first Frisbees. But the flying plaything's history goes back even 20 years earlier, to a couple of bored teenagers.
The Wizard, The Power Glove, and Children in Peril
Why They Made This Crazy Movie Released in 1989, The Wizard was a major motion picture that doubled as a promotional vehicle for Nintendo products. It's quite likely the only motion picture to require a "Power Glove Consultant" (for the record, this con
Andy Rooney, Re-Edited
As we've all heard, Andy Rooney has retired. But his body of work is vast, including 1,097 of his iconic 60 Minutes commentaries. I have a love-hate relationship with those commentary pieces -- I've actually watched 60 Minutes for many years, and while