29 Random Bits of TV Trivia We Learned From the Oddly Sexy Alien Beings We Encountered in This Week’s Adventure

TV facts that are out of this world
29 Random Bits of TV Trivia We Learned From the Oddly Sexy Alien Beings We Encountered in This Week’s Adventure

Anytime we find TV facts that are “out of this world,” we think, “Great, now we have to leave the planet to find them!” It’s a real pain, you know that? Like, finding earthly TV facts is hard enough as it is! 

To be clear, we don’t mean that every fact is about a sci-fi show or Mork & Mindy or something. We just mean that they’re awesome. Sure, a few alien-centered shows might pop up in here, but we like to keep it broad. 

Why do we feel the need to explain ourselves to you? Just enjoy these random TV facts, would you? K, thanks.

The Leftovers

AND THE EMMY DOESN'T GO TO: THE LEFTOVERS ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES The Leftovers is often considered a masterpiece of TV storytelling. The Emmys, however, didn't see the appeal. The show never managed to secure any nomination, except once for Ann Dowd in the guest actress category. CRACKED.COM

Stan Lee

JOAN LEE SAYS STAN WROTE FOR EARLY TELEVISION CRACKED COM IN FACT. IN THE LATE 1950S. STAN CLAIMED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS AND SCIENCES. THOUGH ITS DOCUMENTS AREN'T 100% COMPLETE, THE ACADEMY HAS NO RECORD OF STAN EVER BEING A MEMBER.

The Grinder

Rob Lowe was furious about THE GRINDER CRACKED COM The notion of a show as acclaimed, as original wouldn't have a home anywhere on television, it seems a little outrageous, complained Lowe. That it doesn't have a home on network television tells you all you need to know about network television.

The iral Broadway Revue

The television show The iral Broadway Revue was canceled because it was too popular. CRACKED.COM It had been sponsored by a TV manufacturer who couldn't keep up with the demand for new television sets.

The Powerpuff Girls

THE POWERPUFF GIRLS See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey CRACKED.COM The episode didn't air outside of the UK, and US audiences speculated that it was chock full o' communist propaganda. It turned out to be a classic case of oops, our animation is giving kids seizures.

Beavis and Butt-Head

BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD Comedians LAFF WOLE AMATEUR NITA CRACKED.COM B&B accidentally burn down a comedy club (but only after Beavis suggests they go intentionally burn sh* elsewhere). The pro-arson episode was pulled after two children died in a trailer fire, ostensibly inspired by this episode.

Sesame Street

SESAME STREET A month's worth of programming CRACKED.COM This may come as a shock, but the state of Mississippi once suffered from a bad case of institutionalized racism. In 1970, their Commission for Educational Television declared they were not ready for the show's highly integrated cast of children, and banned it for a month.

The Simpsons

THE SIMPSONS The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson CRACKED.COM Originally aired in 1997, Fox took it out of rotation for several years following 9/11, since the World Trade Towers feature pretty prominently in the episode. They say New York City is the 6th Simpson! Anyway, the episode is still slightly edited when it runs almost 20 years later.

Star Trek

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION The High Ground CRACKED.COM In this episode, Data predicts that a terrorist organization will succeed in reunifying Ireland in the distant year of 2024. The BBC kept it off of British airwaves until 2007, and it still hasn't run in Ireland.

Arrested Development

DAVID CROSS FOUGHT FOX TO KEEP HIS MUSTACHE IN ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. According to Cross, Fox had three rules for men in comedy: no baseball caps, no puffy sleeves, and no facial hair. But when the actor read the script, he knewTobias Fünke had to have a mustache. The network caved, but demanded that he keep the mustache trimmed. CRACKED.COM

The Wire

THE ORANGE COUCH FROM THE PILOT EPISODE OF THE WIRE WAS A DUMPSTER FIND...AND THEN SOMEONE THREW IT OUT AGAIN. The couch was a central part of the pilot, but by the time the show got picked up the couch had been thrown out. The production designers had to make a replica which ended up costing them $5000. CRACKED.COM

Frasier

THE DOG THAT PLAYED EDDIE IN FRASIER WAS A BITER AND DIFFICULT TO WORK WITH. Moose (the dog's real name) would sometimes bite actor John Mahoney, so they rubbed sardine oil on Mahoney's hands. When Moose got older, his son Enzo was brought in to do some scenes, but the two dogs fought so much that they couldn't be on set together. CRACKED.COM

Seinfeld

LAWRENCE TIERNEY SCARED EVERYONE TO DEATH ON THE SET OF SEINFELD. Tierney only appeared in one episode as Elaine's father, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus said he was a great actor but a total nut-job. See, everyone got really freaked out when Tierney stole one of Seinfeld's knives on the set, and when caught, pretended he did it to make a Psycho joke. CRACKED.COM

Gilmore Girls

GILMORE GIRLS HAD A STRICT NO SHOWING MIDRIFF POLICY AND ANY SCENE SHOWING SKIN HAD TO BE RESHOT. The creators felt that it'd be pretty cold sporting a crop top in Connecticut, but the problem was that the fashion trends at the time were short shirts and low rise jeans. The actresses had to get used to pulling down their shirts before every scene to make sure they were covered. CRACKED.COM

The X-Files

GILLIAN ANDERSON WAS TOLD TO ALWAYS STAND BEHIND DAVID DUCHOVNY WHEN THEY FIRST STARTED WORKING ON THE X-FILES. Anderson was never given a reason why, but it's assumed that initially the creators wanted to show Scully only as Mulder's sidekick. It could also have had something to do with the fact that she was so much shorter than her co-star, and had to stand on a box to match him later on in the show. CRACKED.COM

The Golden Girls

ESTELLE GETTY WAS SO AFRAID OF DYING THAT THE WRITERS COULDN'T USE DEATH JOKES IN THE GOLDEN GIRLS. The actress (who played the sharp and witty Sophia) also suffered from severe stage fright, and would sometimes go blank on tape night. Her co-stars tried to help get her mind off it, but it didn't always work. CRACKED.COM

New Girl

THERE WAS A PRINCE/ KARDASHIANS FEUD BEHIND THE SCENES OF NEW GIRL. Prince was a fan and got a cameo role on the show, but when he heard the Kardashians were also booked for his episode, he told the producers to burn the scripts. Apparently he was mad at Kim Kardashian because, on one of his tours, he invited her onstage where she just stood, looking bored. CRACKED.COM

Full House

JOHN STAMOS ALMOST GOT THE OLSEN TWINS FIRED FROM FULL HOUSE. Stamos said he initially struggled to work with the twins because they were crying a lot and making it difficult to shoot scenes. The producers tried another pair of kids but it didn't work, and the twins were brought back for good. CRACKED.COM

Alf

ALF TOOK FOREVER TO FILM, AND THE SET WAS A NIGHTMARE. The soundstage had dozens of built-in trap doors for the show's creator and puppeteer Paul Fusco to walk ALF around the set. The actors had to watch their every step so they wouldn't accidentally fall through one of these trap doors. No one was really that sad when the show ended. CRACKED.COM

Money Heist

THE MONEY HEIST SCRIPTS ARE WRITTEN PARALLEL TO THE FILMING OF THE SHOW. While the writers have an outline for each part (what we'd call a season), the scripts are written based on what happens during shoots. Creator Alex Pina doesn't like to plan too much, and prefers giving actors space to improvise. Scripts are then written according to those improvisations. CRACKED.COM

The Sopranos

JAMES GANDOLFINI HAD EVERYONE THINKING НЕ DIED WHEN НЕ DISAPPEARED FROM THE SET OF THE SOPRANOS FOR SEVERAL DAYS. The Tony Soprano actor had been strange on set, and when he went missing for three days straight the show prepared a statement, thinking he was dead. On the fourth day Gandolfini called the show from some random beauty salon in Brooklyn, asking them to come and fetch him. CRACKED.COM

Downtown Abbey

DOWNTON ABBEY HAD A NO-WASH POLICY, WHICH MEANS THE COSTUMES WERE PRETTY SMELLY. Many of the outfits weren't washed because they had to look authentic, apparently. The designers at least added some patches under the armpits that could be taken out and washed separately. So that's something. CRACKED.COM

The Walking Dead

THE CAST OF THE WALKING DEAD HOLDS DEATH DINNERS EVERY TIME A CHARACTER GETS KILLED OFF THE SHOW. These farewell dinners include bonfires, playing games, and sometimes even singing Backstreet Boys on a karaoke machine. CRACKED.COM

How I Met Your Mother

THE KIDS FROM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER HAD TO KEEP THE SHOW'S ENDING A SECRET FOR ALMOST NINE YEARS. The ending of the show was filmed in Season 1 so that the kids would look the same age. They weren't allowed to talk about the ending, though they weren't sure if their ending would even be used. CRACKED.COM

Jon Hamm

JON HAMM SOMETIMES HAD TO BE SHAVED THREE TIMES A DAY ON THE SET OF MAD MEN. Apparently the man has a beard that won't quit, and on long shooting days he had to get a shave done two or three times to get that clean look the show was going for. CRACKED.COM

Breaking Bad

We have Breaking Bad because Vince Gilligan hadn't heard of Weeds when he pitched it. Br 35 eaking 2018 wa Ba d и - weeds If he had, his idea would have felt too much like Weeds and he wouldn't have bothered, he says. CRACKED.COM

Friends

CRACKED.COM The F.R.I.E.N.D.S gang was almost not there for you if test audiences got their way. NBC Research did a pilot run of the show and found that audiences did not relate to the characters and thought the humor was not clever or original. The report concluded that viewing intentions for a series based on this pilot were not encouraging.

Gravity Falls

almost GRAVITY ended after FALLS one season. Showrunner Alex Hirsch was committed to not doing the second season because of burnout, until Jon Stewart of all people convinced him to do it. Actually a pretty big fan of the show. CRACKED.COM

Game of Thrones

HBO hated Game of Thrones' pilot, so they almost nixed the show. GAME OF THRONES They only said yes when nearly the whole pilot was reshot. CRACKED.COM

Tags:

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

VIRAL ON CRACKED

A WEEKLY
NEWSLETTER OF
JOKES + TRIVIA

?