21 Bewitched’s Sisters At Heart
In 1970, the U.S. sitcom “Bewitched” aired a racism-focused episode called “Sisters at Heart.” A tenth-grade English class of 26 African-American students wrote the story and sent it in. Series star Elizabeth Montgomery later called it her favorite episode.
22 Blue Planet II Overloaded China
When David Attenborough’s “Blue Planet II” aired in 2017, it blew up in China. So many viewers streamed and downloaded it through Tencent Video that China’s internet temporarily slowed down.
23 Richard Hammond’s Last Sad Day
After “Top Gear” ended, British TV host Richard Hammond said it hit him hard. He said he cried the whole way home from the studio and ended up running out of fuel. He said he did not want to stop and fill up his car while he was a tear-soaked mess. So he just kept driving until the tank was empty.
24 Cher Heckled Hecklers Back
When Sonny and Cher’s records stopped selling in the late 1960s, they shifted into a lounge act, but the vibe went so flat that crowds started heckling them. Cher fired back at the hecklers instead of taking it quietly, and the back-and-forth actually turned into the best part of the show. That rough crowd energy reshaped their act and put them back on the radar. In 1971, it led to “The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” and a whole new peak of fame.
25 Jeremy Wade Ran Out of Monsters
River Monsters wrapped up in 2017, with Season 9 promoted as the final season and a last special run following after that. By the time it ended, the show’s own logic had basically boxed it in: host Jeremy Wade had already chased down and caught so many of the world’s biggest, most infamous freshwater fish that there was not much left to build new episodes around. The series ended because it ran out of truly new “river monster” targets to hunt.
26 Kamelion Lost His Inventor
Doctor Who briefly introduced Kamelion, an android character that was played using an actual robot. The robot was so tricky that only its inventor, Mike Power, could reliably operate it. Then Power died in a boating accident, and the production lost the one person who could make it work. The writers killed Kamelion off soon after, as keeping the character was no longer practical.
27 Saiga Birth Turned Disaster
In May 2015, the “Planet Earth II” team traveled to the central Kazakhstan steppe to film saiga antelope gathering to give birth. Instead, what they witnessed was a disease sweeping through the herd and an accelerating die-off. They saw more than 150,000 saiga die in just three days.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
28 Marc Okrand Built Klingon
Star Trek producers brought in American linguist Marc Okrand, a specialist in Native American languages, and asked him to invent Klingon. He built a full language with its own grammar and structure. Okrand even speaks Klingon himself, but he has joked that other fans have become more fluent than he is.
29 MTV Cribs Faked Luxury
Several episodes of “MTV Cribs” faked celebrities’ lives. Some examples include Robbie Williams renting Jane Seymour’s house, 50 Cent borrowing Ferraris, and Kim Kardashian filming at her mom’s place. It got messier with Ja Rule: his episode triggered a lawsuit when the actual homeowner claimed the filming was unauthorized and caused property damage.
30 German Bachelors Chose Brotherhood
The German version of “The Bachelorette” flopped because the men did not play along with the usual reality-show script. Instead of competing hard for the bachelorette, they bonded with each other, drank together, and treated the experience more like a party. That killed the romantic tension the format depends on and made the series fall flat.
RE: Fact #8 (David Tennant Exit Panic) – I feel like the show took a major nosedive once David left, and I honestly haven’t kept up with it since. I put that on the writing, not the actor himself.
The real difference wasn’t the individual episodes but how the seasons felt as a whole. Under RTD, the episodes felt woven together to lead to one really satisfying climax. Even if it was campy, seeing all the companions together for that final season was rewarding for those of us who stuck with it through every season. When Moffat took over as showrunner, he seemed to have specific plot points to hit, so the other writers just did their own thing. The episodes felt like they could be swapped around without much effort. Moffat wrote some great individual episodes during the RTD era, like “Blink, ” which was also the best self-contained episode of the David Tennant era. He was a great writer, just not a great showrunner. And don’t even get me started on Chibnall. It feels like they just doubled down on all of Moffat’s worst habits.
I agree. Season 3 is the best one, in my opinion. The whole Face of Boe storyline that led into that three-part Master episode was spectacular.
RE: Fact #46 (Moose Outmailed Frasier Cast) – That’s cool and all, but people writing letters to dogs? Who are they? Why do they do it? It’s just bizarre to me.
When I was in 3rd grade, my mom dragged me out of a friend’s birthday party so we could go to PetCo and meet Moose. I got a “headshot” of him, a black and white 8 1/2 x 11 with a paw-print signature, and ended up missing my only chance to go to Discovery Zone 🙁
RE: Fact #50 (Tom Hanks Cost NBC) – Did he go out of his way to drive up the production costs for that episode just to stick it to the network?
That’s exactly why we were glad to hand the time slot back over to Jay. Conan really didn’t play well with others.
NBC was constantly trying to mess with Conan anyway. Team Coco all the way.
RE: Fact #37 (Night Court Towered Over Sitcoms) – I’ve been waiting for ages to get my VCR fixed so I can finally watch my Night Court tapes.
RE: Fact #36 (Ed Toutant Won Again) – It’s crazy that Ed Toutant got a do-over. Usually, once you’re out on that show, you’re done. Finding out the question was flawed because the experiment happened in Scotland rather than England saved him, and it was wild that they reset his jackpot to over 1.8 million dollars. He nailed it the second time around.
The weirdest part about that show is how random the difficulty levels are. You’ll get an expert-level science question worth 16k, then the next question is some basic pop culture fact that everyone knows. It’s obviously designed to trip people up, but it’s funny to watch the challenge level swing back and forth so drastically.
I bet there are people who would breeze through all the technical expert questions and still have zero clue about the pop culture ones.
My autistic brain would have been agonizing over whether that question classified a tomato as a fruit or a vegetable. I probably would have insisted on a clear answer. That whole question was a mess.
RE: Fact #3 (Conan O’Brien Reviewed Himself) – And NBC seems perfectly content with Jimmy Fallon, who tries so hard to smile and avoid any controversy.
It’s wild to see how money and the power of Hollywood can turn some genuinely great people into sellouts.
RE: Fact #11 (Succession Helicopter Exit Rules) – I recall Kieran Culkin mentioning in an interview that one of the craziest things he learned is that the ultra-wealthy barely ever wear coats in their daily lives. Since they are always being driven or flown directly to the entrance of wherever they are headed, they don’t actually spend any time out in the cold.
RE: Fact #33 (O.J. Trial Sank Gargoyles) – Goliath’s story really was a Shakespearean tragedy, both on the screen and behind the scenes.
It would be great if they could get most of the original voice cast back. Maybe get Nicole Beharie for Elisa and bring back Jonathan Frakes as Xanatos?
RE: Fact #45 (Saul Lost 53 Emmys) – You think that’s rough? The Wire is widely considered one of the greatest TV dramas ever, and it only got two nominations, and zero wins.
I feel like The Wire became a classic in hindsight. It had pretty rough ratings back when it was actually on HBO.
The Wire suffered from bad timing. We have to remember that it aired before on-demand streaming was a thing and before “binge-watching” was even a concept. It’s a really complex show where every single character matters, and it rewards viewers who pay close attention, which isn’t exactly the recipe for success for weekly episodic TV. It didn’t really hit big until the DVD era.
RE: Fact #22 (Blue Planet II Overloaded China) – And yet, industrial pollution, poaching, and fishing practices in China are major drivers of the ecological collapse mentioned in the show. Hopefully, it helps shift some perspectives.
RE: Fact #15 (Star Trek Wanted Dolphins) – This was definitely a callback to ‘Star Trek IV’, where an ancient alien race tried to contact the humpback whales that went extinct in the late 21st century. The probe was incredibly advanced, disabling starships and wrecking global weather patterns. ‘Cetacean Ops’ would have been a great way to bring that into the TNG era, using dolphins or whales for their language skills or aquatic missions. It’s a great concept, but it would have completely drained the budget of any 80s TV show.
RE: Fact #26 (Kamelion Lost His Inventor) – The robot was built for a different show, but John Nathan Turner saw it and thought it would be a cool addition to Doctor Who. Once he actually got it on set, he realized it was basically just a ventriloquist dummy that barely functioned. While Planet of Fire used its shape-shifting ability as a workaround, at the end of the day, it was still just a prop with some basic lights and electronics.
My first thought was that it was more like a motorized puppet than a robot. We’ve only really started seeing what most people consider a ‘robot’ in the last few years.
RE: Fact #47 (Jay Leno Saved Everything) – Why are you acting like his side gigs were working at McDonald’s or Walmart?
Because they know the American Dream is dead, and they’re trying to push a new narrative before everyone gets too fed up.
My father bought his house for about 150K twenty years ago and sold it for 500K a few years back. Let’s just say wages definitely didn’t triple in that same window.
RE: Fact #47 (Jay Leno Saved Everything) – It’s pretty easy to stash away cash and buy property when you’re pulling in millions from two different jobs.
I’m glad someone finally said it. Basically, if you make a ton of money, you can actually afford to save some.
It reminds me of the “Rob’s guide to getting fit” meme. You know, “It’s easy, just hire a top-tier trainer, train six hours a day, five days a week, eat perfect food, ” and so on.
The guy lives on half a massive income. I’m sure the folks over at the personal finance sub are taking notes.
I remember someone once told me, “You know, the guy who owns IKEA is super rich and buys his stuff secondhand… you should save like him.” I just thought, “I can’t save a billion euros if I’m only earning 27k a year.” That’s just plain stupid.
RE: Fact #2 (Michael Cera’s Real Awkwardness) – I met Michael Cera at the Newark airport. My girlfriend asked him, ‘Are you Michael Cera?’ He just said ‘yes’ and walked away.
I was standing next to him in the security line on a flight to LA from Toronto and forgot his name, so I just mentioned I enjoyed his work in Arrested Development.
RE: Fact #28 (Marc Okrand Built Klingon) – I remember when Star Trek 6 came out, they had to add a verb for “to be” into Klingon just to make that specific Shakespeare line work.
RE: Fact #49 (Hugh Laurie Bathroom Audition) – He was already in character for Flight of the Phoenix, which is why he was so scruffy. They liked the look, so he ended up staying that way for most of the next decade.
That’s like how Guy Fieri wore a bowling shirt to his audition because it was his only collared option, and then he just had to keep wearing them for the rest of his career.
Before he got famous, he used to guest teach at my high school culinary class occasionally. He was rocking the bowling shirts back then, too. That was just his look.
RE: Fact #1 (Carmen Sandiego Taught Geography) – It’s interesting how the show launched right during that massive shift in global geography with the reunification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
RE: Fact #11 (Succession Helicopter Exit Rules) – The consultants also said they should almost never wear jackets or outdoor gear, because they are constantly being chauffeured from door to door.
I actually thought they looked pretty cool in their winter gear, even though the characters are terrible people.
That makes the Sweden episode and Lukas Mattson even better. Mattson plays that new-money tech vibe perfectly, while the Roys just look out of place in all that outdoor clothing.
That logic doesn’t always hold up and isn’t just a rich person thing. Kids get driven around all the time and stay bundled up waiting for their ride. Plus, people walk everywhere regardless of their bank account. In the Financial District of NYC, you’d have to be pretty impractical not to walk places.
RE: Fact #22 (Blue Planet II Overloaded China) – I remember back in the late 90s when the internet would drag every day during peak hours, usually 7 to 9am and 5 to 10pm. This was before home broadband was everywhere and before providers realized they really needed to upgrade their infrastructure.
Who’s going to tell him that bandwidth is still a major struggle for most of the world?
RE: Fact #9 (Fred Rogers Shared Water) – I vaguely remember watching this as a kid, but the significance went completely over my head. I just thought it was strange they were sitting there with their feet in the water. I was too young to see it as anything other than, ‘Who just sits around with their feet in a kiddie pool?’
RE: Fact #2 (Michael Cera’s Real Awkwardness) – I’m a fan of the theory that Michael Cera didn’t even choose to be an actor. He landed his first role because people just assumed he wanted it, and he was too shy to say otherwise.
My favorite version of that theory is that he just stumbled onto a set one day, the director liked his vibe, and he’s been bumbling his way into roles ever since.
It’s like Robert Downey Jr. in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, where he just walks into an audition and accidentally gets the part.
RE: Fact #41 (Gandolfini Gifted Cast Checks) – He was such an incredible actor, and every behind-the-scenes look shows how much his costars respected him. I don’t think The Sopranos would have been anywhere near as successful without Gandolfini.
He absolutely carried the show, but the entire cast was brilliant. I couldn’t stand Tony’s sister or mother, though.
Yeah, but that was kind of the point with his mother and Janice; we’re meant to hate those characters.
Totally agree. Edie Falco as Carmela remains one of my favorite casting choices ever. She absolutely crushed that role.
He was originally slated to star in The Night Of… and while I don’t want to take anything away from John Turturro, I couldn’t help but picture Gandolfini in that role and wish I could have seen his version.
RE: Fact #39 (Krusty Coined Quiet Part) – It’s wild how much influence The Simpsons had early on. I’m pretty sure that’s where the word “meh” became popular, too.
It’s funny because the early writers were usually referencing old TV shows and musicals they liked. Now that history is often forgotten in favor of The Simpsons. During a writers’ roundtable, Mike Reiss mentioned that Selma dancing with Jub Jub to “Natural Woman” was a clear Murphy Brown reference, but now people only associate it with The Simpsons.
That seems to be why the quality dipped later on; the new writers grew up watching The Simpsons instead of the classic media that inspired the original show, so it lost those references and became more generic.
The same thing happened with Looney Tunes. Those cartoons were packed with mid-20th-century movie references that flew right over my head when I was watching them in the 80s and 90s. Even Bugs Bunny’s signature carrot-chewing bit is a movie reference.
It’s tough to distinguish what The Simpsons actually pioneered versus the massive amount of existing culture it revived or referenced.
Nothing is truly new; everything just references what came before. It all goes back to the dawn of time. Post-modernism is such a dull way to view the world.
Did the term “cheese it” come from The Simpsons or Futurama, or was it already a standard way to say “run away?”
It’s way older than I thought! It appears in James Hardy Vaux’s *A Vocabulary of the Flash Language*, so criminals were already using it back in 1819.
It goes back to old gangster movies, so it definitely didn’t start with The Simpsons.
RE: Fact #6 (Andrew Buckley’s Hobby Role) – That’s wild. When I watched the show with my wife, I always told her he was the most believable character because he just fit the corporate world so perfectly.
RE: Fact #42 (Bachelor Mansion Real Owners) – The production handles everything. A prep team from the locations department shows up days or weeks early, photographs every room so everything goes back exactly where it belongs, and hires movers to pack their furniture into storage. The homeowners usually get their hotel stays covered on top of their fee. Source: I’ve worked in the locations department on several shows you’ve definitely heard of.
For The Bachelor, the homeowners move their furniture out beforehand and stay at a separate primary residence. They rent the property out for 6 months a year, and the set decoration crew redecorates for every season. The rumor I heard on set was that it’s a $100k-a-year deal for the owners. Not trying to contradict you, since that is the standard process, but the show is a bit of a special case.
The other issue is that filming a show like this takes a massive toll on the property. Lights and electrical lines have to be run through walls and floors. I’ve been to the house during filming; it’s basically turned into a full-blown set. There’s serious reconditioning, carpentry, and painting done between the owners moving out and production moving in. The show would have saved a fortune if they’d just bought a place like that from the start. There’s also a barn on the property converted into a studio and production area; I’m pretty sure that stays as-is year-round.
RE: Fact #32 (Pillsbury Renamed British Baking) – If you don’t fight to protect your trademarks, you risk losing them to the public domain, and that IP is often incredibly valuable. Dupont once sent me a cease and desist because I used the word “Teflon” on my site. I wasn’t big enough to fight it and didn’t have permission, so I had to switch to using PTFE, the technical name for it.
RE: Fact #28 (Marc Okrand Built Klingon) – Language creators are incredible. One of my favorite constructed languages is actually that emoji-based one.
RE: Fact #30 (German Bachelors Chose Brotherhood) – Fun fact: Trista Sutter, the star of the first season, is still married to the man she picked in the finale fifteen years later. They have two kids now.
Part of the reason it worked is that she was the oldest person to ever be the Bachelorette. She was genuinely looking for a partner to settle down with, unlike the 24-year-olds on later seasons who just seemed interested in the “excitement” of it all.
That is crazy. Wikipedia says ABC paid them $1 million for the rights to film their wedding. She has a website and has pivoted to full-time mommy-blogging now. Those sites aren’t really my thing, but good for her, I guess.
If they annoy you, it is pretty easy to just stay away from them. I have never clicked on a mommy-blog in my life and it has been really easy to avoid them.
RE: Fact #28 (Marc Okrand Built Klingon) – He actually gave a talk at my university for a linguistics class I took. He discussed some fascinating topics, including how the Klingon language evolved. He also shared a story about a couple who tried to raise their child using Klingon as a first language. They considered it a success when the kid coined his own compound word for a baby bottle.
RE: Fact #14 (Network Decay Killed History Channel) – Last I checked, Animal Planet was just treehouses, fish tanks, and reality shows about parolees. I really miss the old days with shows like ‘The Most Extreme’ and ‘Meerkat Manor.’
That’s the one that hits hardest. It was a childhood staple, but you can barely recognize it anymore.
Meerkat Manor is actually back, with new episodes airing on AMC and BBC America.
RE: Fact #14 (Network Decay Killed History Channel) – The Learning Channel would honestly rather you watch shows about hoarders and misery.
RE: Fact #12 (Ken Jennings Invented Stories) – Austin Rogers, that bartender from New York, would just joke around and ask Alex Trebek what he wanted to talk about. Alex eventually said he was his favorite contestant and that his run was the most fun he ever had on the show.
RE: Fact #38 (Martin Pistorius Hated Barney) – I have a similar story. My mom had a stroke while the Clinton-Lewinsky trial was happening and lost the ability to speak. A nurse left the trial on, and my mom was forced to listen to it. When the “depends on what your definition of is is” moment happened, she sat up and shouted “BULLSHIT!” at the screen. She couldn’t talk again for days, but that was the moment we knew she was going to be okay.
RE: Fact #11 (Succession Helicopter Exit Rules) – I fly in helicopters for work regularly, and even our pilots with 30 years of experience still duck and tell everyone else to do the same.
This isn’t really about what’s realistic, it’s about the storytelling. When you have the Roy family casually strolling out of a helicopter while others duck and act like it’s a big, dangerous event, the audience picks up on that difference immediately without even really noticing it. It’s the classic ‘show, don’t tell.’
This is just like the difference between the wrestling fan who says ‘this is obviously fake’ and the one who is rooting for a specific guy to win. The first person often assumes the second person is just too clueless to know it’s staged.
But you are still dealing with a real helicopter in the real world, complete with actual physics and rotors that can oscillate in the wind.
RE: Fact #17 (Rod Serling’s Fatal Crate) – War has such a messed up impact on people. It’s interesting to see how they process those experiences, and I guess it’s some consolation that Serling channeled that into such incredible work.
I know army food has always been terrible, but it’s nothing to lose your head over.
It says he didn’t have the wits for combat, yet he had the wit to write a massive hit series. It really drives home the tragedy of all those people dying in a war they weren’t suited for, their talents never getting a chance to shine.
I think they meant ‘wits’ as in the ability to assess a situation and react fast, not as in creative or unique thinking.
It’s like how Tolkien and Hitler both made it out of the Battle of the Somme. You have to wonder how many other legends or monsters never made it out.
RE: Fact #37 (Night Court Towered Over Sitcoms) – I really loved Harry Anderson. As a kid, I wrote him a letter about how much I enjoyed Night Court and IT, and that he sparked my interest in magic. He actually sent back a signed deck of custom playing cards with his caricature on them. I was heartbroken when he passed away, he was only 68.
That’s a great story. It’s nice to hear when people are genuinely kind when the cameras aren’t rolling.
RE: Fact #16 (Jack Gleeson’s Sleeping Corpse) – Just looking at his face makes me want to punch him. That just proves he’s an incredible actor, but I actually feel sorry for him because I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way.
RE: Fact #20 (Kattarshians Lived In Miniature) – If you enjoy this, check out Kitten Academy on YouTube. A husband and wife team fosters mom cats and their kittens from a local shelter until they get adopted. I’ve been hooked for ages; it’s honestly the best corner of the internet.
RE: Fact #3 (Conan O’Brien Reviewed Himself) – That article is hilarious. At first, I was surprised a talk show host could write that well, but then I remembered that Conan used to be a professional writer.
He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in history and literature. He originally planned to be a serious writer until he stumbled upon the Harvard Lampoon.
He also has a history and literature degree from Harvard, which is always a weird fact to bring up.
Why is it weird? So many big names in comedy came out of Harvard through the Lampoon. If anything, the only unusual thing about Conan is that he isn’t Jewish.
Remember when The Simpsons was actually great? His unscripted stuff, like Clueless Gamer and his public segments, are where he really shines. The guy is just naturally talented.
Totally agree, the Conan years on The Simpsons were the absolute peak. I stopped watching after he left, though I didn’t even realize he was behind it at the time, he was just that good. That interview he did with Bart where he says, “only *I* may dance” cracks me up. His podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, ” is fantastic if you’re looking for something new.
RE: Fact #26 (Kamelion Lost His Inventor) – During Smith’s final episodes, I couldn’t help but feel like the Cyberman head he carried around was originally meant to be Kamelion, and they swapped it in after realizing the character was gone. The way the Doctor treated it like an old friend really gave me that impression.
Keep in mind, the Doctor spends roughly 900 years off-screen with that thing.
HANDLES! Yeah, that would have been a cool callback to the Davison era if they had used Kamelion instead.
RE: Fact #33 (O.J. Trial Sank Gargoyles) – I remember it well. I was basically forced to buy the figurines because it was my son’s favorite show, but after watching it with him, I realized how great it actually was.
RE: Fact #31 (Geoffrey Owens Got Rescued) – It wasn’t just that he had to get a regular job; it was that the tabloids completely shamed him for doing it. A lot of people thought that was really low.
RE: Fact #18 (Terry Pratchett’s Empty Seat) – I love that Neil Gaiman makes sure Terry isn’t forgotten in all this. I saw an interview where the host credited him as the sole writer, and he immediately corrected them to include Terry as a co-writer. It’s great that he’s keeping that recognition alive.
RE: Fact #29 (MTV Cribs Faked Luxury) – There were so many episodes where they would show a fridge with only one product inside, and the celebrity would be like, “Yeah, I really love 7-Up.” It was so ridiculous.
RE: Fact #20 (Kattarshians Lived In Miniature) – It’s all fun until one of them gets involved with an NBA player and ruins a career.
RE: Fact #40 (Gulf War Moved Leno’s Show) – It was surreal coming home from middle school and watching bombs dropping on live TV.
RE: Fact #48 (Foo Fighters Did Both) – It wouldn’t be as impressive if New Jersey and New York weren’t basically right next door to each other.
RE: Fact #27 (Saiga Birth Turned Disaster) – I wonder what a paleontologist would think if they stumbled across this burial site millions of years from now.
I just mentioned the same thing. It is wild, right? It would be nearly impossible to explain without the specific knowledge of their birthing behaviors, which might not be preserved in the fossil record. And to anyone thinking about the reasons why: we all get that there is likely a link, it is just a strange coincidence.
It is unlikely that any of them will actually become fossils; they will probably just decay.
RE: Fact #34 (Full House Adults Misbehaved) – He would have never hit it big doing standup. He’s easily one of the darkest, filthiest comedians I’ve ever heard. I’m glad he made his money doing such saccharine work, because it just makes his real style even more jarring. I’d love to see him in a club, especially if there were a bunch of horrified Danny Tanner fans walking out.
Darkest and filthiest? Doug Stanhope and Jim Norton would like a word. Honestly, Saget’s humor isn’t even that good; it feels like he’s just trying to be shocking for the sake of it, without much actual wit or construction.
I agree. I’ve always liked Bob Saget in interviews, but his actual jokes usually fall flat. I like dark comedy, but he often just seems like he’s trying too hard to be offensive, which gets boring.
RE: Fact #33 (O.J. Trial Sank Gargoyles) – Worst cancellation ever, just barely ahead of Pirates of Dark Water.
That show is one of my earliest memories and I’m still bummed it got cancelled.
RE: Fact #24 (Cher Heckled Hecklers Back) – My first introduction to Sonny and Cher was actually through Beavis and Butthead.
RE: Fact #32 (Pillsbury Renamed British Baking) – I’ve always been so confused about the trophy, I never realized it was edited! That’s wild.
What’s also wild is how much time Captain D put into the VFX and editing for that video. So many tiny details most people won’t even notice.
RE: Fact #9 (Fred Rogers Shared Water) – I just watched the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and it is the most amazing, wholesome thing I have ever seen. It really made me stop and rethink the kind of man I am and who I want to be.
That should really be mandatory viewing for junior high and high school kids.
I think it would be a huge help for prison reform too. Instead of just locking people up with other criminals, we should focus on building empathy and compassion, and shows like Mr. Rogers would be a great start. I also think animal companionship programs should be used much more often. We need to move away from being purely punitive and toward being restorative. Helping people build empathy is a key part of reintegrating them into society in a healthy way. That should be the main priority of our justice system, not just locking people away. Instead of handing out arbitrary sentences, we should put people in programs that give them the tools to live a more peaceful life and help them get back to their communities as quickly as possible. If we had a better reform system, most incarceration could be replaced with something like structured parole or house arrest. Only the most dangerous people should be locked up, and even then, the conditions should be humane and focused on rehabilitation. This would definitely lower recidivism rates and reduce the amount of violence behind bars.
RE: Fact #43 (Natalie Holt Egged Cowell) – > She was protesting Cowell’s “dreadful influence on the music business.” Hard to argue with that.
RE: Fact #44 (Alex Trebek Never Called Sick) – At least he saved them up for when he really needed them.
RE: Fact #48 (Foo Fighters Did Both) – The more I appreciate Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters, the more I realize that Kurt Cobain’s death actually had more of a positive impact on my own life than it did when I was just a bummed-out middle schooler.
RE: Fact #31 (Geoffrey Owens Got Rescued) – For anyone wondering, Geoffrey Owens played Elvin, Sondra’s husband.
RE: Fact #19 (Ric O’Barry Switched Sides) – I have so much respect for people who have the courage to own up to their past mistakes and work to turn things around.
RE: Fact #10 (Buzz Aldrin Kept Joke) – Buzz was basically like, ‘Nah, I’m cool with that. I was just using Neil as a backup in case the moon was made of lava or something.’
RE: Fact #24 (Cher Heckled Hecklers Back) – I read that she was originally in a duo because she was too shy to perform solo. She really turned that around, eventually learning to absolutely dominate hecklers. Plus, those bold outfits she wore didn’t exactly scream lack of confidence. Good for her.
It can take years to get past stage fright and find your voice. Lots of performers have their own strange rituals to get into the right headspace before a show.
RE: Fact #25 (Jeremy Wade Ran Out of Monsters) – What I loved about that show was that it wasn’t just manufactured drama over some fake cryptid. They were actually hunting real animals.
RE: Fact #38 (Martin Pistorius Hated Barney) – Ever hate something so much that raw, unfiltered spite is what wakes you up from a coma? This guy actually did it.
Rumor has it he woke up, switched off the TV, and went right back to sleep.
RE: Fact #30 (German Bachelors Chose Brotherhood) – I really like the comparison in the video where they show the difference in how one guy reacts to being rejected by the woman compared to how he reacts when one of his friends has to leave the house.
RE: Fact #23 (Richard Hammond’s Last Sad Day) – Coming up on Top Gear: Hammond runs out of gas, James makes Gin, and I pack on the pounds.
Don’t forget James’ cooking channel. It’s a bold choice considering he has such simple, basic taste in food, and his producer, Lucy, acts like she hates eating entirely! Anything fancier than a plain cheese sandwich seems to be a stretch for him.
I’ve watched James May tear apart an old lawnmower and put it back together. He’s a solid TV host.
“Don’t like, don’t comment, and definitely do not subscribe.” – James May
RE: Fact #5 (Rod Serling Hid Politics) – The full interview is definitely worth a look. It was fascinating to hear him talk about the struggle of keeping his artistic vision alive while dealing with network sponsors. It makes me want to start a rewatch of The Twilight Zone.
RE: Fact #49 (Hugh Laurie Bathroom Audition) – Apparently the tape led the pilot’s director to say: “See, this is what I want: an American guy.”
That director is Bryan Singer. He helped launch the comic book movie era with X-Men but almost killed it with Superman Returns. Also, definitely don’t look up his name alongside the word “problematic.”
He also directed The Usual Suspects, which is one of my favorite movies, though it also stars another problematic creep.
Was he the one who banned comic books on the X-Men set, which led to Kevin Feige sneaking them to Hugh Jackman?
you can trust him when it comes to casting a jerk, since it takes one to know one.
Technically true, but he was more involved as an executive producer. Plus, Bryan Singer is just a piece of work.
I think his American accent is the weirdest one I’ve ever heard. I loved House, but I had to Google where he was from because I’d never heard anyone talk like that before.
Interesting. Because of how many different American accents there are, I didn’t even notice it was foreign. I’ve heard that’s actually a pretty common thing for English speakers.
RE: Fact #13 (HBO Ignored Vince Gilligan) – It’s interesting to see why others passed on it. TNT loved it but couldn’t air a show about meth. FX had too many male antiheroes and pivoted to ‘Dirt’ to try and get more female viewers. Showtime thought it was too much like ‘Weeds’, and Vince Gilligan has said if he’d known about that show earlier, he probably wouldn’t have pitched it to them at all.
RE: Fact #42 (Bachelor Mansion Real Owners) – This happens on a smaller scale pretty often. Commercials are frequently shot in private homes. A location scout picks one out, the production pays to clear out the furniture and redecorate for the shoot, and the homeowner gets paid a few grand to clear out for a couple of days.
I grew up in a small LA suburb, and our city had a website where you could upload pictures of your home to sign up as a potential filming location. Our place was used just once for a KFC commercial. They paid for us to stay in a hotel for two days, and I’m pretty sure they painted our living room for the shoot and then painted it back afterward.
Living in Los Angeles, I’ve had scouts knock on my door to ask if they could take photos because my house might work for a project. It never went beyond the scouting photos, though; I was just outside the typical filming zone.
RE: Fact #2 (Michael Cera’s Real Awkwardness) – That ‘go fish… uno’ line was my favorite for the longest time. It makes me laugh so hard because it perfectly captures his character’s essence.
And then he drinks from the cup instead of the straw, so the straw just awkwardly hits his forehead.
That bit is exactly why I lean toward him being a comedic genius. It’s so subtle and painfully awkward that it had to be intentional, yet he pulls it off so naturally that it doesn’t look like a performance at all.
RE: Fact #1 (Carmen Sandiego Taught Geography) – I watched that show almost every day. I played the computer games and caught the cartoons too. It was a massive cultural moment back then. The show and the computer games were huge hits with everyone my age. I wasn’t as into the cartoons, but the theme song was just as iconic as the game show itself.
That computer game was awesome. I must have spent hours watching that little plane fly around. The music was great, too.
The Carmen from the 90s was so badass. She was an antagonist, but in a friendly way, she was a superthief and femme fatale, but she never went after Zach and Ivy. The Netflix version kept her better traits, but they nerfed her. She went from being a tactical genius in a red trenchcoat to this adorable chibi-ninja. She was still cool, but she lacked that raw, unrelenting energy of the 90s original.
you have to respect anyone who can pull off stealing the Industrial Revolution.
I preferred the Carmen from Where in Time. She was a total boss and an unambiguous villain who openly hated learning.
I don’t know if this was actually canon or just something my sister and I made up, but I always thought she was an ACME agent who either went rogue or was committing crimes to leave trails and test the rookies.
RE: Fact #18 (Terry Pratchett’s Empty Seat) – The witches are my absolute favorites, along with the Guards, the stand-alones, and Tiffany. Honestly, I love them all.
RE: Fact #21 (Bewitched’s Sisters At Heart) – The Brady Bunch had a similar episode, “Kelly’s Kids” (Season 5, Ep 14), where Ken Berry and his wife adopt their son’s friends, one African American and one Asian child, from an orphanage. It did a good job of calling out the prejudice and ignorance people displayed, even though the Bradys were always supportive.
RE: Fact #24 (Cher Heckled Hecklers Back) – I can only imagine what it would be like to trade banter with Cher. I’d love to go back and forth with her.
[You don’t have to imagine]
RE: Fact #6 (Andrew Buckley’s Hobby Role) – If I recall correctly, he enjoyed the role so much that he still hands out business cards as David Wallace. Good for him, honestly. Live the dream.
My boyfriend actually has one of those cards! He ran into him at an airport a while back and said he was super friendly. They ended up hanging out until their flights left. It really is his actual office line.
It’s pretty cool that he’s famous around the world for his hobby.
RE: Fact #15 (Star Trek Wanted Dolphins) – This probably served as the inspiration for the aquatic Xindi in the ‘Enterprise’ series.
Nothing is worse than watching that show late at night, only for those dolphins and insects to start screaming at double the volume of everything else.
RE: Fact #1 (Carmen Sandiego Taught Geography) – Growing up in Chicago, I could never remember which ocean was on which coast. I was usually fine with geography, but the Atlantic and Pacific tripped me up constantly. During a 6th-grade geography test, I saw the kid in front of me wearing an Ocean Pacific shirt that mentioned California. I aced that test, and to this day, that shirt is how I remember which ocean is which.
I remember it because the Titanic sailed from Europe to New York on a ‘transatlantic’ voyage.
I had a world map shower curtain that I stared at while I used the bathroom from age 7 to 14. I called it my ‘crap map.’ It actually helped me win the geography bee in 7th grade.
RE: Fact #35 (Mike Post’s Cash Sound) – I recall Dan Harmon mentioning that when Community used that sound for their Law and Order parody, it cost them around 100k.
Since it was a parody, wouldn’t that fall under fair use? Or is the risk of being sued just too high?
Using the specific, copyrighted sound in a for-profit production to evoke the real show probably isn’t fair use. Fair use is a legal defense in a lawsuit, so whether they get sued just depends on if the owner wants to pursue it and how aggressive their lawyers are.
They parodied the style of Law and Order for that episode but used the actual sound effect.
They literally could have just had Abed go “Chung chung” and I think I would have appreciated that even more.
That could have been a great C-plot. Just Abed trying to recreate the noise, failing, and every transition is his janky attempt while he complains that it isn’t quite right.
RE: Fact #21 (Bewitched’s Sisters At Heart) – That’s interesting, but Bewitched drives me crazy. Darrin is married to literal magic, and all he cares about is appearing normal.
Major Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie was the same way. What an idiot.
Never mind the magic. Jeannie spent the whole series throwing herself at him, and he was totally oblivious until they forced a marriage in the final season.
I think you might be missing the point. These characters were caricatures, and Darrin’s buffoonery was meant for comedy. On a deeper level, the show challenged people, especially white viewers, to think about the world and women’s roles in it. Breaking molds takes time, and even silly comedies can get people thinking. It’s not like flipping a switch; it’s more like trying to herd cats.
He’s such a jerk. I don’t get why he can’t just embrace his incredible wife instead of trying to turn her into a mindless, submissive housewife. Endora was the real legend of that show; she always had his number.
RE: Fact #46 (Moose Outmailed Frasier Cast) – Moose’s son, Enzo, was also used for some of the stunts his father was getting too old to pull off, and eventually he replaced him once the dog retired.
RE: Fact #17 (Rod Serling’s Fatal Crate) – That episode “The Purple Testament” really hits home regarding his war years. It captures the sheer weight of command and the brutal reality that an officer can’t stop the inevitable, even when they’re the one calling the shots.
There’s another one where soldiers are dug in outside a cave and have the upper hand on the enemy. The lead character suddenly wakes up as one of the enemy soldiers, realizing the Americans are now the ones in the cave. It forces him to confront his own actions from the other side. Rod always loved exploring perspectives like that.
RE: Fact #45 (Saul Lost 53 Emmys) – Better Call Saul is one of the best series I’ve ever seen, personally, I think it’s better than Breaking Bad. You can tell they picked up so much about filming and storytelling along the way. The acting was phenomenal. The storylines were smart, funny, gritty, and exciting. You get the backstory for not just Saul, but also Mike, the Salamancas, and Fring, and the new characters they introduced were fantastic. The way the world expanded felt totally natural, with none of the retconning you usually see in shows that weren’t planned as long-term series from day one. And they pulled it off without relying on the novelty of meth labs, “bitch science, ” or dissolving bodies. Just pure storytelling and acting.
Breaking Bad wasn’t necessarily my all-time favorite, but throughout its run, I kept thinking it was the best show I’d ever seen. When it finished, I was convinced of it. Then I watched Better Call Saul and wondered if it could be my favorite ever, and if it could even match Breaking Bad. By the finale, I felt like it blew Breaking Bad out of the water. Everything you said, the acting, the writing, it’s just an incredible show from start to finish. I’m definitely due for a rewatch.
RE: Fact #30 (German Bachelors Chose Brotherhood) – I wish I could get cast on a reality show with a bunch of other guys so I could make some friends. It is so hard to make new friends as an adult.
RE: Fact #27 (Saiga Birth Turned Disaster) – The producer, Chadden Hunter, described the scene as the most devastating natural disaster he had ever encountered. Watching 150, 000 of those animals perish was a nightmare for the crew, who genuinely feared they were witnessing a total extinction event. It would have been powerful to include that footage in the show or as a bonus feature, as it would have left a real impact on the audience.
I agree completely. I wish that footage had been released to show how harsh nature can be without human interference, while also highlighting the importance of not making things worse for these populations.
Exactly. Things like this do happen in the wild, however rare. It would really help people value modern medicine if they could see how a massive die-off from a virus or bacteria can happen in nature, and how lucky we are to have effective public health systems to keep that from affecting us.
RE: Fact #25 (Jeremy Wade Ran Out of Monsters) – The tiger fish episode is my favorite. He clearly pushed himself to the limit to catch it, and while he wanted to preserve it, he understood it was vital food for the village.
My favorite part was the stingray that gave birth right when they caught her. It was incredible to see.
Eh, it’s wild to watch, but it makes me feel a bit bad since that’s usually a stress response from the animal, like it’s thinking, ‘I’m going to die, so I’ll eject the babies and hope they survive, ‘ or ‘Eat these instead of me!’
He seems so genuinely heartbroken at times. You can really tell how much he cares about both the animals and the people he meets. This will always be my favorite show.
You could see the conflict on his face, realizing that while this was a hobby or privilege for him, for them, it was just basic survival.
RE: Fact #5 (Rod Serling Hid Politics) – If only audiences were better at catching those subtle metaphors for social issues. That would’ve been a perfect Twilight Zone episode, since it’s basically sci-fi anyway.
RE: Fact #3 (Conan O’Brien Reviewed Himself) – The article was about his raw sexuality and intellectual presence? Yeah, that’s just a plain fact.
I’m still curious about what the guest’s favorite color was. I also had to look up that reference to Vince Coleman. Back in 1993, he was charged with endangerment for throwing a firecracker into a crowd of fans, which injured three children. He got community service, and the Mets suspended him with pay.
he did just fine playing for the Cardinals. It was definitely the New York influence that caused that situation.
RE: Fact #31 (Geoffrey Owens Got Rescued) – Checking his IMDb page, he only had a brief break from acting between 2003 and 2006. Other than that, he has been working consistently in movies and TV shows from 1990 all the way to 2020.
RE: Fact #37 (Night Court Towered Over Sitcoms) – I almost got taken out by Alan Alda at a Broadway show once while I was rushing to the bathroom. My only thought was, “Damn, I had no clue Alan Alda was that tall. Maybe it’s not him?” Turns out he is super tall, it’s just that his MASH costars were even taller, so it’s hard to tell. It’s the same with this show, Richard Moll made the rest of the cast look average.
RE: Fact #19 (Ric O’Barry Switched Sides) – Wanting to make a difference is great, but you have to know how to do it correctly. Releasing animals that aren’t equipped to survive on their own just causes unnecessary suffering.
That’s a mess. Ironically, the law he violated was an animal abuse statute.
I suspect Ric was also behind cutting the fence for Bogie and Bacall. I was involved with a group trying to readapt them to the wild in the Indian River, but someone cut the fence during the night and they escaped. We had hydrophones in the water and could hear the wild dolphins calling to them, and them responding. I really hope they managed to enjoy their freedom for as long as they could.
Maybe they should fine those biologists too. /s
RE: Fact #13 (HBO Ignored Vince Gilligan) – HBO: ‘Actually, ignoring a show like Breaking Bad was super easy, barely an inconvenience.’
‘But why wouldn’t you want to meet about a show like Breaking Bad after your success with The Sopranos?’ ‘I don’t know.’