31 Tom and Jerry’s Grim Ending
There is an episode of Tom & Jerry in which both characters fall into despair over lost love and grow suicidally depressed. The cartoon builds to a stark final image of Tom and Jerry sitting together on railroad tracks, waiting. As the sound of an oncoming train grows, the scene leaves their grim intention unmistakable.
32 Parks and Rec Drunk Montage
During production of the Parks and Recreation episode “The Fight,” the cast spent two days each shooting improvised scenes at the Snakehole Lounge. Producers had every actor perform alone, riffing through increasingly sloppy antics to show how the night unraveled. Editors then cut the footage into a rapid montage that charted each character’s drunken spiral in one escalating sequence.
33 Captain Video and His Video Rangers
Airing from 1949 to 1955, Captain Video and His Video Rangers was one of television’s first science fiction series, running an astonishing 1,537 episodes. Despite its massive output, only about 20 episodes survive today. The rest were destroyed when the original kinescope recordings were dumped into the ocean off the coast of New York, erasing nearly all traces of early sci-fi television history.
34 Steve Irwin’s Crocodile Honeymoon
The very first episode of The Crocodile Hunter followed Steve Irwin and his wife, Terri, on their honeymoon, not to a resort, but into the wilds of Australia. Instead of relaxing, the newlyweds spent their trip trapping and relocating crocodiles for conservation. Their fearless teamwork and genuine passion for wildlife launched one of the most beloved nature shows ever made.
35 Neil Armstrong’s Parents’ Game Show
In 1962, Neil Armstrong’s parents appeared on the game show “I’ve Got a Secret” with a surprising announcement. Their secret was that their son had just been selected as an astronaut that very day. When the host asked Mrs. Armstrong how she would feel if Neil became the first man on the moon, she smiled and said she would be “awfully proud,” a prediction that came true seven years later.
36 The Samurai’s Australian Craze
When a few episodes of the Japanese series “The Samurai” aired on Australian TV in 1964, viewer demand exploded. The network TCN9 quickly picked up the entire series, and it became the station’s most popular show up to that point. Later, when lead actor Ose Koichi arrived in Melbourne, thousands of fans, many dressed as samurai, crowded the airport to greet him.
37 Kitchen Nightmares’ Mob-Linked Debut
The very first episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares took place at Peter’s, an Italian restaurant in Babylon, New York. What Ramsay didn’t know at the time was that the place doubled as a bookmaking front for the Bonanno crime family. The restaurant’s owner, Peter Pellegrino, was later linked to mob-related gambling operations.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
38 Star Trek’s Worst Episode “Shades”
The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Shades of Gray,” which aired in 1989, is infamous among fans as the series’ worst. Created at the end of season two when the production budget was nearly gone, it was a clip show built mostly from recycled footage. Writer Maurice Hurley later dismissed it bluntly, calling the episode “a piece of shit.”
39 The High Ground’s Ireland Ban
In 1990, Star Trek: The Next Generation aired “The High Ground,” where Data mentions an Irish reunification in 2024 achieved through terrorism. The BBC deemed the reference and the episode’s violence too sensitive during the Troubles and chose not to broadcast it; RTÉ also skipped it during the show’s initial run.
40 TaleSpin’s Banned Terror Episode
In 1992, Disney’s animated series TaleSpin aired the “Flying Dupes” episode in which Baloo becomes entangled in a terrorist plot. The story’s subject matter triggered controversy after broadcast. The episode was then pulled from regular rotation and was not seen again for over a decade.
RE: Fact #39 (The High Ground’s Ireland Ban) – Yeah, the writers were pretty insensitive to just guess how and when that violent dispute would wrap up.
Nah, that’s just activism, and not even in the right place. Lots of folks who called themselves Irish Americans were bankrolling the IRA for ages, and they didn’t seem to get that they were actually funding the bombing of innocent kids, instead of helping the push for independence.
RE: Fact #2 (Pat Sajak’s Drunken Tapings) – I used to watch game shows from the 70s and 80s, and everyone seemed really messed up. Richard Dawson, in particular, was super drunk on TV for years.
RE: Fact #23 (Sean Schemmel’s Goku Surprise) – That’s classic Goku, isn’t it? He doesn’t even realize he’s the main guy but jumps in when it counts.
RE: Fact #49 (Kirk vs Picard Episode Banned) – Picard’s a better officer, we all know that.
RE: Fact #8 (Joss Whedon’s Buffy Ultimatum) – I love how Joss writes his female characters. He really captured what I think is the best Hollywood quote about it. When a reporter asked why he writes strong female characters, he said, “Because you’re still asking me that question.”
This makes me think of something George R.R. Martin said.
He wasn’t actually asked that by a reporter; he posed it as a hypothetical question to himself. It’s a neat idea, and he’s clearly a talented writer when it comes to creating strong female characters. But honestly, people get way too excited about this quote, considering the conversation never actually took place.
That’s so me! I also have those mental debates where I totally nail the perfect comeback.
Reporters kept asking him that.
RE: Fact #37 (Kitchen Nightmares’ Mob-Linked Debut) – What kind of sh*tty mobster would let TV cameras anywhere near their front door?
RE: Fact #31 (Tom and Jerry’s Grim Ending) – That piano-drop-on-Tom scene is a classic! I also remember that part with the wet bag bouncing around. When it opened and kittens came out, I was a kid and didn’t get that someone had drowned them.
RE: Fact #40 (TaleSpin’s Banned Terror Episode) – Seriously, people are so easily offended these days. Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and even a kids’ cartoon can talk about real issues that need fixing.
Seriously, our kids really need to learn about how bears could help terrorists.
RE: Fact #1 (The Bradys’ Failed Dark Revival) – Wow, in just six episodes they made Bobby a paraplegic and Marcia an alcoholic? That’s really piling on the drama.
RE: Fact #43 (Powerpuff Girls’ Beatles Episode) – You know, they really don’t make things like they used to.
RE: Fact #3 (Simpsons’ Haing Ngor Controversy) – Ngor’s story is seriously captivating. It’s so heartbreaking that he made it through the Khmer Rouge but then got killed by street thugs.
RE: Fact #12 (Tom Kenny’s SpongeBob Laugh Fit) – So, Tom Kenney said that the cast had trouble faking swear words, so they got the director to let them swear for real, and then just bleeped it out.
RE: Fact #31 (Tom and Jerry’s Grim Ending) – So, Tom and Jerry actually started out as a short cartoon shown in theaters before movies. It wasn’t really made just for kids, but more for anyone watching.
RE: Fact #25 (Top Gear’s Vietnam Tour Legacy) – This episode inspired us to add Vietnam to our Asia trip, and the road near Da Nang was stunning. We didn’t go on scooters ourselves, and I suspect a lot of tourists get hurt trying to copy that part. Honestly, the initial trip out of the Bangkok airport flying into Asia is a good indicator that it’s not for the easily spooked.
RE: Fact #20 (ER’s Double Live Broadcast) – I watched it. They had clocks showing the current time and a live baseball game on TV in the background, so you could tell it was happening in real-time. Pretty neat.
I recall checking WGN back and forth too. I’m pretty sure it was a Cubs game they were showing.
Yeah, George Clooney’s character was in the break room and talked about the Cubs’ game. It was a strange moment to see.
RE: Fact #48 (Japan’s Sazae-san Sunday Blues) – I used to work with a bunch of super keen folks who decided our weekly meeting should be Monday morning at 7:30. My coworker and I both had young kids, and it was a real pain. That early meeting really ate into our Sunday nights because we had to get things done that evening just to be able to wake up and leave early enough for the Monday morning meeting. Luckily, there was a company shake-up not long after, and they moved to a different part of the business.
RE: Fact #24 (Louis C.K.’s Custody Filming Rule) – This guy does it all – writes, directs, edits, and stars in the show. I bet he told his whole crew about this arrangement when he first got going.
RE: Fact #27 (Oscar’s Pink Shirt Rewrite) – I always thought Oscar’s character was great because being gay didn’t define him or lead to any stereotypes. They even poked fun at it in an episode when he said something like, “Aside from, you know, dating guys, the finer things club is probably the gayest thing about me.”
RE: Fact #42 (Seinfeld Cast’s Lost Royalties) – That’s probably why they asked for so much per episode later on. Plus, they likely scored much better deals for DVD and VHS releases.
Still, it’s not like he got a fair shake of the billions Seinfeld himself made. Honestly, I’m not surprised; he always seemed like a real tool.
He made a billion, Larry David made a billion, and then his wife took half.
RE: Fact #23 (Sean Schemmel’s Goku Surprise) – I wouldn’t think I was the lead either if I died in the second episode.
RE: Fact #48 (Japan’s Sazae-san Sunday Blues) – Aka “Antiques Roadshow malaise”
RE: Fact #18 (Black Ranger Casting Backlash) – It’s a coincidence that the black ranger is black, but when the yellow ranger is Asian, people start getting suspicious.
Also, the red ranger is Native American.
I’m starting to think that was done on purpose.
RE: Fact #14 (Seinfeld’s Junior Mint Rejection) – Every time I hear about Junior Mints, I always say, “They’re very refreshing.” It’s a shame I’m only 21, so not many people get the reference, but all the older folks instantly smile.
RE: Fact #35 (Neil Armstrong’s Parents’ Game Show) – Pretty neat that it was all caught on video.
A witness to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was on the same show.
That clip totally blows my mind every time I see it. It’s wild to think I’m watching and listening to someone who was born over 150 years ago. It’s hard to wrap my head around!
RE: Fact #10 (Hanna-Barbera’s Cartoon Empire) – Saturday morning cartoons were the best when I was a kid in the 80s. I’m wondering if they’re still a thing now that we have the internet. I don’t have kids, so I’m genuinely curious.
RE: Fact #33 (Captain Video and His Video Rangers ) – It’s a bit like how tons of old Dr. Who episodes are gone for good because of decisions made at the BBC – like reusing tapes or clearing out storage space. Seems like they didn’t really value art back then.
We’re seriously losing art and irreplaceable cultural stuff faster than you can imagine, even right now.
It’s kinda funny how people still say “once it’s on the Internet it’s there forever,” but so much online stuff just disappears.
I feel like we’re totally seeing a reaction to that, with people wanting to own physical stuff again, especially with all the annoying DRM and corporate licensing tricks companies use to make more money these days.
RE: Fact #30 (Star Trek’s Theme Within Universe) – It’s cool how something that was just meant to be functional ended up becoming part of the story.
Plus, Roddenberry got half the money for the theme song because he wrote some lyrics for it that weren’t used.
RE: Fact #1 (The Bradys’ Failed Dark Revival) – That sounds pretty cool! They should totally do that with some of the more chill shows out there now.
I’d be glued to “The Big Bang Theory” if the main science guy was slowly kicking it from radiation from a messed-up experiment, the one with the glasses ended up a sex slave in Southeast Asia, the Indian guy was stuck in Guantanamo for allegedly planning domestic terrorism, and the neighbor girl was turning tricks to feed her heroin habit.
I think there was another nerdy guy on there too, kind of tall and really thin? Maybe he’s a stay-at-home dad who does webcam shows with a specific kink, or something along those lines.
RE: Fact #2 (Pat Sajak’s Drunken Tapings) – Honestly, I thought Vanna White had it pretty sweet already, but this makes her gig look even better! She pulled in $4 million a year just for tapping screens to reveal letters. That’s seriously a job that doesn’t even need to be done. And she gets to have a drink while she’s working? Wow.
RE: Fact #15 (Doctor Who vs. JFK Broadcast) – Yeah, I saw a torrent of old Doctor Who episodes that had part of this broadcast, but it got cut out, which is a real bummer. I would have loved to see it! Unfortunately, the torrent was really bad quality for the rest of it, clearly a VHS rip.
RE: Fact #5 (John Forsythe’s Midnight Call-Up) – Who played the character originally?
RE: Fact #50 (Rian Johnson’s Breaking Bad “Fly”) – That episode was hilarious! I remember really liking it. Usually, I’m not a big fan of filler episodes, but ‘Fly’ didn’t feel like that to me at all. I was actually glad to get to hang out in the lab for a bit.
I watched it again not too long ago, and I think the reason it was good is that even though it was a filler episode, it had some dialogue that first suggested Walt knew Jesse was stealing some of the meth to sell separately. Plus, Walt and Jesse had some solid character development during their talk. So yeah, even though it was filler, it wasn’t a waste of time.
RE: Fact #22 (Dominique Dunne’s Real Bruises) – This turned out worse than I pictured.
Oh my fu*k, that person should have been arrested right away. To do that to a woman, I just don’t get that sh*t.
RE: Fact #13 (1 vs 100 Battle Outcome) – So, I found out today that all women apparently think holidays like Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day are bigger deals than Christmas.
RE: Fact #21 (The Jetsons’ Second Life) – That’s so true, Johnny Quest was really similar too. They kept re-airing that one initial season for like 20 years, and then more stuff came out way later.
RE: Fact #32 (Parks and Rec Drunk Montage) – The montage was great, and Ron’s was the best.
RE: Fact #50 (Rian Johnson’s Breaking Bad “Fly”) – He also directed the best Breaking Bad episode, by the way.
Yeah, but that doesn’t really add anything to the story.
RE: Fact #24 (Louis C.K.’s Custody Filming Rule) – I worked on the show. Why would you say “much to the chagrin of his staff” when that’s not the case? The staff still has work to do when Louie takes days off; they just don’t film on those days. Do you think those locations just appear on their own? And what about getting their permits? Stop bad-mouthing the staff.
This is a great point! The staff are a massive part of what makes the show work. Appreciate all you do!
RE: Fact #34 (Steve Irwin’s Crocodile Honeymoon) – What a legend! Even on his honeymoon, he’s out there catching crocs. It’ll be a while before we see someone as genuine and passionate about animals as Steve Irwin was.
It’s so cool finding a partner who’s up for all sorts of wild adventures with you.
RE: Fact #43 (Powerpuff Girls’ Beatles Episode) – That’s a funny bit in the episode where they use a monkey as a distraction for Mojo Jojo’s love life to break up the Beatalls. The monkey’s name is Moko Jono, and she only has one line: a chattering scream. To a kid, it sounds like a monkey, but if you really listen, it’s a pretty accurate impression of Yoko Ono’s weird art performances.
RE: Fact #12 (Tom Kenny’s SpongeBob Laugh Fit) – Still waiting for the official uncut audio to leak.
RE: Fact #25 (Top Gear’s Vietnam Tour Legacy) – That Top Gear episode was basically a great holiday ad. I bet Mongolia saw a big tourism boost from it.
RE: Fact #14 (Seinfeld’s Junior Mint Rejection) – Whenever I hear “Junior Mint,” I immediately think of that one episode. Most of the time, it only comes up because of that specific episode.
RE: Fact #41 (Del Toro’s Ozymandias Request) – I’m pretty sure I read in another interview where Rian Johnson was asked about this specific exchange. Johnson mentioned that he’d invited del Toro to the set, and del Toro apparently said something like, “And have to watch you fu*k the prom queen? No thanks.”
RE: Fact #10 (Hanna-Barbera’s Cartoon Empire) – They reused the same background footage for the chase scenes, which totally saved time and money. It makes sense, ’cause the characters will get there no matter what the background looks like on the way.
Seriously, how many times did they cross the same finish line in Whacky Races? And speaking of which, Dick Dastardly has got to be the dumbest villain ever. If you’ve got enough time to set up traps for everyone, you’re already way ahead! Just keep going! Don’t stop, you’re winning! Just keep going!
And that bongos music they were playing while they ran.
RE: Fact #46 (MythBusters Freed John Galvan) – So, a while back, I was at a friend’s place, and we were tinkering with a riding mower in his garage. He’d drained the gas into an old coffee can, and it was just sitting there. I mentioned it was a risky move to be smoking a cigarette near open gas, but he tossed his lit butt right into the can, and it just went out.
Yeah, I’ve heard and seen stuff like this quite a bit. Still not something I’d be up for trying, though.
RE: Fact #42 (Seinfeld Cast’s Lost Royalties) – They were still making around $2 million per episode, right?
RE: Fact #31 (Tom and Jerry’s Grim Ending) – I remember seeing this episode when I was a kid! I was a huge fan of Tom and Jerry. Honestly, when I was little, I never thought about the fact that they were going to die in this episode. It just seemed like a typical Tom and Jerry episode with a cat and mouse doing funny, dumb stuff.
I totally get it. I knew they were just waiting to get hit by the train and die, but honestly, it didn’t bother me since it was just a cartoon. It’s the same idea with the shotgun thing – I knew that actually getting shot wouldn’t just blow your hair back and mess up your face.
RE: Fact #45 (Breaking Bad’s Felina Symbolism) – That’s cool, but it actually reminds me more of the Marty Robbins song “El Paso.” It makes more sense now, thinking about how the episode wrapped up. The lyrics mention feeling a burning pain and getting weary, trying to stay in the saddle but unable to ride. Then, the love for Felina makes them rise again. They see the smoke, feel the bullet deep in their chest, and then Felina finds them, kissing them as they kneel. It ends with being cradled by loving arms and one last kiss.
RE: Fact #7 (Malcolm Missed His Own Episodes) – Yeah, the show was really about the whole family, so naming it after just one person feels a bit off.
Yeah, it seems like it was really focused on Malcolm at first, and it went on for quite a while. I remember him narrating a lot of it in the early seasons too.
It was about him being a boy genius in a family of “normal” people. As the show went on, the ideas got simpler and it just ended up being about a weird family.
RE: Fact #26 (Bibleman’s Evangelical Superhero Saga) – This fact is exactly what I’ve been waiting for! My parents were really religious, but they eased up a bit when my younger brother came along about ten years after me. When I was a kid, I was only allowed to watch 30 minutes of TV each day. It was rough because I had to choose between the first or second half of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Can you believe they wouldn’t just let me watch the whole thing? Anyway, I’m getting off track.
The only show I had free rein with was Bibleman. I definitely owned every VHS tape of it and had them all memorized.
Something else that really affected my childhood was that I was completely terrified of mascots. My dad used to dress up as Scripture Dog or whatever that character was at our church. Even though I knew it was him, the costume itself would make me start crying.
For a few years, we went to one of those huge churches with maybe a thousand people. One Sunday, they actually managed to get the real Bibleman to come and talk to the kids. I was so hyped!
So, that Sunday arrived, and I made sure I was right in the front row to get a good look at my hero, Bibleman. He did a little performance, and then he asked for a kid from the audience. My hand shot up, and you won’t believe it, but I got to go up on stage and meet Bibleman.
He asked for my name, I took one look at that scary masked face, and I bolted! I ran off the stage and tripped on the stairs, which made me cry even harder. My mom eventually picked me up and carried me out.
And that’s how I apparently ruined Bibleman for hundreds of other kids.
Wow! You weren’t kidding when you said this fact is what you have been waiting for.
RE: Fact #29 (Days Like These Failure) – So, ten episodes aired in total. That’s a lot for just four seasons!
RE: Fact #29 (Days Like These Failure) – Yeah, the same folks who did That ’70s Show wrote this. It’s pretty funny to see it in this style though!
It’s kinda like watching the US version of The IT Crowd – same stories, same jokes, but it feels a bit off, like an alternate reality.
Really? There was an American version of this?
RE: Fact #13 (1 vs 100 Battle Outcome) – I’ll bet the feminists just fu*king loved that…
Honestly, people probably wouldn’t pay it much mind ’cause statistically, it doesn’t really mean anything. But this fact comes off as passive-aggressive, making it seem like there’s a big deal here when there really isn’t.
RE: Fact #28 (RoboCop’s Lost Episode Funds X-Men) – The X-Men arcade game, plus the Simpsons and TMNT ones, were my jam back in the day. Totally get that they were basically the same game with different characters, but they just had a special vibe, you know?
If your local arcade was missing any of these, it was a total waste of time.
RE: Fact #12 (Tom Kenny’s SpongeBob Laugh Fit) – Making up fake swear words sounds like a good time. It would be cool to see a video of them putting the episode together too.
RE: Fact #47 (Shatner and Nimoy’s Forgotten Meeting) – Shatner was really going for it in that scene, so much so that I barely noticed Leonard Nimoy.
RE: Fact #10 (Hanna-Barbera’s Cartoon Empire) – Wow, I can’t believe The Jetsons only ran for two years, while The Flintstones lasted for six!
RE: Fact #29 (Days Like These Failure) – Yeah, it totally looks like it was filmed in the 70s. Is that what they were going for?
It was like, old-school porn, but they cut out the actual action. Funny thing is, an up-and-coming director named Dennis Reynolds made it, but the studio bosses messed up what he wanted.
RE: Fact #17 (Courage’s Oscar-Nominated Beginning) – I’m not surprised at all. That show is seriously awesome.
Sometimes it was a bit naughty!
RE: Fact #11 (Twilight Zone’s Hidden Hour Episodes) – I recall watching a bunch of The Twilight Zone episodes with my dad on New Year’s Eve when I was a kid back in the 90s. They showed some hour-long ones I haven’t seen since. One was about a wax museum where the figures came to life. My dad told me he saw it when it first aired and it gave him nightmares for weeks. I, of course, teased him about it, even though it spooked me a bit too. Good memories!
I really enjoyed those marathons. The hour-long episode that I remember most clearly was about a car company CEO who bet the janitor that if they had switched places early on, the CEO would still have been successful.
RE: Fact #19 (Young Sheldon’s EAS Fine) – It’s pretty funny to me because a real-life Sheldon, even a young one, would have totally prevented this from happening.
RE: Fact #44 (Chloe O’Brian’s Unexpected Run) – If you haven’t seen 24, you might know her as Gail the Snail from Always Sunny.
RE: Fact #33 (Captain Video and His Video Rangers ) – Back in the early ’70s, Dumont was being bought out, and the lawyers were hashing out who would be on the hook for the Dumont shows stored at the facility, who would pay to keep them in a climate-controlled place, handle copyright renewals, and all that.
One of the lawyers involved said he could “take care of it” in a “fair manner,” and he definitely did. At 2 a.m. the next day, three massive trucks showed up at ABC’s loading dock. They loaded up all the stored kinescopes and 2″ videotapes, drove them to a barge waiting in New Jersey, sailed out, made a turn at the Statue of Liberty, and dumped everything into the Upper New York Bay. Real clean. No fuss.
Also, around 1958, the company that used to be the Du Mont network intentionally destroyed a lot of kinescopes to recover the silver from them.
RE: Fact #36 (The Samurai’s Australian Craze) – I remember this! We used to make shurikens in metal shop at school.
RE: Fact #8 (Joss Whedon’s Buffy Ultimatum) – Bless him for that! Tara and Willow were how I first realized I was gay.
My cousin came out around the same time as Willow, and it was a really tough period for them. Their family basically cut them off.
I was working at a WB station back then, so I reached out to our network contact. I asked if they could maybe get in touch with Alyson Hannigan and request an autograph as a way to support my cousin.
The rep told me that “Buffy” had finished filming for the season, the cast was on break, and they probably couldn’t be reached. But, they said they’d try to see what they could do.
A week later, a package showed up. The rep had managed to find Ms. Hannigan, and she’d kindly taken the time to send an autographed photo along with a personal note of encouragement. The rep also included some DVDs, posters, and t-shirts in the package. They later sent me an email, sharing that they’d also gone through a difficult time when they came out to their own family.
Allison and James, I still owe you for this. Thank you.
It’s awesome that one of my favorite shows helped you figure out something so important about yourself.
I always wondered why I liked them so much, and then a few months later, BAM! I finally figured out that I was a lesbian.
RE: Fact #4 (Blazing Saddles’ Secret TV Spinoff) – I found out about this series from a video by Hats Off Entertainment.
There was a TV series called Black Bart on CBS, based on Bergman’s story. Louis Gossett, Jr. played Bart, and Steve Landesberg was his drunk sidekick, Reb Jordan, a former Confederate officer. Millie Slavin and Noble Willingham were also in it. Bergman is credited as the only creator.
CBS showed the pilot just once on April 4, 1975. Gerrit Graham and Brooke Adams guest-starred in the pilot, which was written by Michael Elias and Rich Eustis. Elias and Eustis later created and produced Head of the Class for ABC.
Steve Landesberg mentioned in a 1996 interview that Black Bart was “like a joke.” He said they filmed the pilot, and CBS aired it in late spring of 1975, then told them to film six more episodes, and then another six. He explained that they only filmed six episodes per season, while most shows got orders for 24 or 26. Since he was already on Barney Miller, they filmed Black Bart during winter breaks. He added that CBS never aired any of these filmed episodes, calling it “like a sick joke.” He said if he hadn’t been under contract, he would have left, but since they were paying him, he couldn’t complain.
Louis Gossett, Jr. told Entertainment Tonight in 1989 that CBS and Warner Bros. had a deal: CBS would get to air Blazing Saddles and any sequels in exchange for co-producing a TV show. He said Warners wanted to make Blazing Saddles into a film series, releasing a new movie each year, similar to the British Carry On films. However, Mel Brooks had a contract clause stating Warner Bros. had to keep producing Blazing Saddles stories, either in movies or TV, or they would lose the rights to make sequels. He explained that the TV show was made to retain those rights; they didn’t have to air it, just keep producing it. Gossett said he spent four winters on a soundstage being paid for a show that would never air, so Warners could keep the Blazing Saddles sequel rights. He mentioned that by 1979, they realized the market had changed and sequels weren’t likely, so the show was canceled, if a show that was never meant to air could be canceled.
Mel Brooks spoke about the Black Bart series in 2005. He said his lawyers advised him to put a condition in his contract: Warner Bros. couldn’t take away his control of the movie or make sequels unless they did so “right away or make a TV show out of it within six months.” He thought this was brilliant because they couldn’t make a sequel in six months, and the movie was too “vulgar” for TV back then, though he noted it might air during family hour now. He said his lawyers added this condition without expecting them to actually make a TV show. He recalled that in 1977, three years later, Warner Bros. approached him about making another Blazing Saddles, but he refused, saying they didn’t have the right. They responded by saying they did, because they had been making a TV series and still controlled the rights. He asked what TV series, as he hadn’t seen one. They took him to a projection booth on the lot and showed him three episodes. He realized his lawyers had forgotten to specify that the show had to be aired, not just made. He said, “Oy gevalt!” He added that management changed, and they never made Blazing Saddles 2, and as far as he knew, they were still making that “stupid show.”
The pilot episode of Black Bart was later included as a bonus on the Blazing Saddles 30th Anniversary DVD and Blu-ray.
RE: Fact #46 (MythBusters Freed John Galvan) – Seriously, can you imagine how annoying it is to finally see proof that clears your name, only for it to take a whole FIFTEEN YEARS to get sorted out?
Welcome to how the American legal system works.
They’re really fortunate. A lot of people don’t get a chance to appeal, even with proof they’re innocent, all because a judge has the final say.
RE: Fact #38 (Star Trek’s Worst Episode “Shades”) – Seems like clip shows are a thing of the past, huh? I guess with how we binge-watch and can easily rewatch stuff these days, we’re not as into them anymore. I don’t watch much TV outside of sci-fi, but none of the shows I follow have done a clip show lately.
So, the community did a clip show, but get this: all the clips were totally new and made just for that episode, never seen before.
That clip episode was hilarious! It had the part where they dealt with the Mexican cartel and the time they visited an old-west town. None of the stuff in the clips was hinted at before, which made it even funnier. I think it might be one of my favorite episodes ever. It totally made fun of the whole idea of a clip show, and I bet it cost twice as much to make as a regular episode!