Mental Floss

TELEVISION



Nathan Fielder, creator of HBO’s ‘The Rehearsal,’ also owns a successful outdoor apparel brand with terrible customer service.

Jake Rossen






The far-fetched plots were designed to keep viewers wanting more.

How did daytime dramas like “Guiding Light” and “General Hospital” become known as “soap operas”? It's all thanks to commercials.

Marla Mackoul








Pee-wee Herman, circa 1995

In the summer of 1985, Paul Reubens introduced America’s youth—and millions of young-at-heart adults—to a new kind of comedy.

Jennifer M Wood


Melissa Gilbert stars in Little House on the Prairie.

'Little House on the Prairie' was television at its most wholesome, but that doesn't mean that everything that went down behind-the-scenes was PG-rated. Now, Netflix is rebooting the series.

Kara Kovalchik, Garin Pirnia






David Lynch

The iconoclastic director behind ‘Mulholland Drive,’ ‘Twin Peaks,’ and more cult classics—who passed away on January 16, 2025 at the age of 78—once drew a comic strip about a furious dog and disliked large furniture.

Scott Beggs