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26 Random Bits of TV Trivia We Regret Wishing for With Our Third and Final Wish

These are okay, we guess. But we could have had it all!

26 Random Bits of TV Trivia We Regret Wishing for With Our Third and Final Wish

April 30, 2025

When that genie popped out of that magic lamp, we’ll admit that we didn’t have our three wishes methodically planned out. Who has those ready to drop at a moment’s notice? We just blurted out whatever was on our mind that moment, and since random TV trivia is always on our minds, that’s what we got here today.

They’re good, but not “billions of dollars good,” ya know? Take it from us, write out exactly what you want and keep it in your pocket in case the opportunity ever arises.

26

New Girl

MOST OF THE INNUENDOS ON NEW GIRL WERE WRITTEN TO PLACATE THE NETWORK'S CENSORS. ODEEN GRACKED Because the show was aired on network television, the writers had to get creative around weird rules. For example, they could only say penis 5 times in one episode.

25

Desperate Housewives

Desperate Housewives The show was meant to be a 30-minute comedy. Marc Cherry noticed the pilot script he was writing kept getting longer and a bit more dramatic. Instead of fighting this, he decided it would be a different kind of show. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones GRACKED.COM THE PILOT THE SHOW Understandably, it's incredibly tough to distill GRRM's tomes down to weekly television scripts. The first attempt included a flashback to the Mad King's murder spree, and a couple of major differences in casting. — Source

23

Real Life

ALBERT BROOKS PREDICTED REALITY me TV IN 1979. FILMING THANKSGIVING His mockumentary film Real Life featured an obnoxious, intrusive camera crew trailing a family and deliberately stirring up conflict. It was meant as a sendup of a PBS documentary series, but with the twist that most of the drama was generated artificially by the producer. CRACKED.COM http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/real-life-1979 — Source

22

Cavemen

Disastrous Comedy 2007 Cavemen Geico's original so easy a caveman could do it ads were pretty funny, but did not warrant their own show. The ABC sitcom only lasted six episodes, and was dubbed one of the worst ever. CRACKED — Source

21

Selena Gomez

Celebrity Side Hustles Selena Gomez Producer Gomez signed a deal with Univision to produce a true crime docuseries called Mi Vecino, El Cartel for their streaming service. She also produced 13 Reasons Why for Netflix. CRACKED — Andrea Raffin/Shutterstock,
Netflix
The Hollywood Reporter

20

Friday Night Lights

Fans wouldn't let Friday Night Lights get canceled, SO they sent thousands of mini footballs to NBC. 39 3k NBC got sick of the show being last in ratings, so they decided to cancel it. But the fans wouldn't let that happen, and sent thousands of mini footballs to NBC to show their support for the show. In order to keep FNL alive, NBC partnered up with DirecTV. CRACKED — NBC
The New York Times

19

Sherlock

PILOTS THAT WERE WILDLY DIFFERENT SHERLOCK The never seen pilot is only 60 minutes long, and lacks most of what made the show so interesting. Don't worry though, those scenes of Sherlock using a riding crop were still in there. CRACKED.COM — Source: 15 Pilots That Were Wildly Different from the Rest of the Show

18

ER

CRACKED.COM was based off the experiences Michael ER Crichton had at Harvard Medical School. In 1974, Crichton wrote a screenplay based on the experiences he had as a medical school resident in the emergency room. Twenty years later, NBC agreed to pick up Crichton's screenplay, which became the basis of the 15-season, critically acclaimed medical drama, ER. — 22 Eyebrow-Arching Ways Creators' Lives Influenced Their Work

17

Scooby-Doo

The Scooby Gang was based on the characters in a 1960s TV show. It was called The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, and it was a teen sitcom that the creators of Scooby-Doo basically just lifted the main characters from. CRACKED.COM — Snopes

16

black*ish

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THERE'S AN UNAIRED EPISODE OF BLACK-ISH, BUT THE REASONS AREN'T 100% CLEAR. - vole The reason given was creative differences, but it seems that the decision was partly made because of a scene where characters argue over whether athletes have the right to kneel during the national anthem. — Source

15

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Rob McElhenney had a nightmare that inspired the show. Glenn Howerton describes, The show started as a night terror, basically. A late-night sweating station. BEHIND THE SCENES CRACKED.COM — EW

14

Hannibal Buress

COMEDY NERD Hannibal Buress did a pilot for a TV show about himself, called Unemployable. It would show just how totally unsuited he is to any job whatsoever besides being a comedian, but the network passed on it. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

Kelly Clarkson

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS Who is to blame for painful screams of KELLY CLARKSON! American 2 NIGHT FIN TOMOR CRACKED.COM Clarkson confronted Judd Apatow on her TV show and he promptly passed the buck. I'm going to blame Seth Rogen. We had a piece of paper with all the curses for Steve to scream when he gets waxed. And on the side with the clean curses, it says 'Kelly Clarkson' in Seth's handwriting. — YouTube

12

Maude Flanders

A Simpsons character got killed off because the voice actress was too expensive. The character is Maude Flanders, and the show offed her rather than give the actress the raise she had asked for. CRACKED.COM — Source: LATimes

11

The Handmaid’s Tale

BEHIND-THE-SCENESP FACTS THE SHOW MADE STREAMING HISTORY. THE EHANOMAIOS TALE In 2017, the Hulu original became the first streaming show to win an Emmy for Outstanding Drama. CRACKED.COM — Bloomberg

10

The Reason Fox Originally Turned Down the Show

BEHIND-THE-SCENESp FACTS FOX TURNED DOWN THE SHOW. SOUTH PARK Before landing on Comedy Central, Trey Parker and Matt Stone pitched the show to Fox. Executives at Fox turned them down because they didn't think a show about kids could work and wanted it to be more family-centric. — YouTube

9

Party of Five

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS THERE WERE PLANS FOR SEASON SEVEN. party of five With the departures of Neve Campbell and Scott Wolf, the producers were planning on restructuring the show around Matthew Fox's character and his new family. The network, however, decided to pull the plug and end the show. — The Los Angeles Times

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8

Buddies

DAVE CHAPPELLE was in a Home Improvement spinoff BUDDIES ore Jim Breuer played Dave's original buddy on Home Improvement, but the network recast the part, breaking up the Half Baked costars. It was a bad show. It was bad, says Chappelle. mean when we were doing it, I — Vulture

7

George Carlin

GEORGE CARLIN was a taxi driver who liked to drink GEORGE CARLIN SHOW CRACKEDGO An opinionated smart-ass who sat at a bar and bitched between shifts, Carlin's nihilistic character was fresh for 1994. But the show never caught on and Carlin wanted more creative control. When Fox canceled it, he — Vulture

6

Bridgerton

Anthony Bridgerton needed to wear make up on his butt. During his opening sex scene, actor Jonathan Bailey used cosmetic assistance to de-shine the body. BEHIND THE SCENES CRACKED COM — Source

5

All My Children

A soap opera gave Chadwick Boseman the boot. ALL MY CHILDREN When Boseman mentioned that his character - a fatherless gang member perhaps -- was a lazy and hollow stereotype, they fired him (and replaced him with Michael B. Jordan). — Source: Insider

4

Love of Life

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3

The Fonz

Fonzie rode a motorcycle because that was the only way he could wear a leather jacket. Network executives thought a leather jacket made the wearer loo — Source: 4 WTF True Stories Behind the Traits of Famous Characters

2

Friend Me

Friend Me 5.75 3.001 A hearted 2013 CBS sitcom starring Christopher Mintz-Plasse, it was shelved due to the co-creator's tragic suicide.

1

ABC

In 2005, ABC neartly launched a series called Star Wars Underworld. It was a mobster soap opera. Scriptwriters cranked out 50 hours' worth of what Geo

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