35 Pieces of Classic TV Trivia to Keep Gilligan Company on That Island of His

How did Gilligan survive without random TV facts?
35 Pieces of Classic TV Trivia to Keep Gilligan Company on That Island of His
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Sure, Gilligan had a professor and a skipper, but he didn’t have a batch of classic TV facts. We think that’s where the show got a little unbelievable. It wasn’t the time the Harlem Globetrotters visited the island, it was the lack of facts. 

Our bodies literally couldn’t survive without a healthy dose of classic TV tidbits, so this totally shattered our suspension of disbelief. Ooh, here’s some sustenance now!

The Six Million Dollar Man

The '70s TV show The Six Million Dollar Man accidentally discovered a corpse. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN When a camera crew came to an amusement park and tried to move a hanging man prop, the arm came off - the prop was a real body. CRACKED.COM

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The Great Rural Purge of 1971

Canceled? Really? The great Rural Purge of 1971 With Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D, and Hee-Haw, CBS was dubbed, The Country Broadcasting System and the Hillbilly Network. They canceled them all. Actor Pat Buttram said, It was the year CBS killed everything with a tree in it. CRACKED

CBS

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sabrina The Teenage Witch CRACKED.COM Sabrina hails from the Archie universe. She had her own animated series in the 70's, but her first appearance was as the new kid at Riverdale in 1968's The Archie Show.

Gilligan’s Island Reboot

CRACKED.COM Gilligan's Island was almost rebooted in the '90s (with more cannibalism). According to James Gunn, Charlie Kaufman managed to get a Gilligan's Island reboot greenlit, with the starving castaways killing and eating each other. The project was nixed by Gilligan's creator Sherwood Schwartz.

Love, American Style

Happy Days RONNY-HOWARD CRACKED.COM The Happy Days crew started out on an episode of Love, American Style, which was basically an anthology of unconnected rom-com pilots. Their episode was meant to be a pilot for an entirely different show that was never picked up. Two years later, the characters and settings were yoinked for Happy Days.

Charlie’s Angels

CRACKED.COM Worst TV Finales Charlie's Angels The show chose to end with a clip show, of all things. Jaclyn Smith's character gets shot, and the rest of the cast just waits and remembers better scenes from better episodes. No thrills, just waiting. And then Charlie finally shows up-wearing a surgeon's mask.

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Fred and Ethel Mertz

BEHIND-THE-SCENES FACTS THE ACTORS PLAYING FRED AND ETHEL MERTZ ON I LOVE LUCY HATED EACH OTHER. CRACKED.COM The odd couple, Vivian Vance and William Frawley, were always tossing insults at each other on screen, but it apparently didn't stop there. Vivian allegedly called Willian an old poop, and William responded creatively by calling her a bitch.

Cher

The First Belly Button After half a decade being denied Barbara Eden's navel in I Dream of Jeannie, America got to see Cher's, like, all the time, on The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. CRACKED.COM

Mork & Mindy

Mork & Mindy CRACKED.COM Mork from Ork originally appeared on Happy Days, attempting to kidnap Richie Cunningham. The episode was technically one long dream sequence, but people loved Robin Williams' performance so much, they edited the ending and spun off a four-season show.

The Muppet Show

The Muppet Show CRACKED.COM Before there were Muppets, there were just freaky-ass puppets. Kermit looks positively traumatized by his first castmates on Jim Henson's Sam and Friends, a local Washington DC kids' show.

The Golden Girls

CRACKED.COM THE GOLDEN GIRLS was inspired by MIAMI VICE. In 1984, NBC shot a humorous skit titled Miami Nice, starring two older actresses, for a special advertising their new shows (like Miami Vice). Execs liked it, and the idea was developed into a full series about old ladies living in Miami.

The Andy Griffith Show

The Andy Griffith Show CRACKED.COM The world was introduced to Andy Griffith in an episode of The Danny Thomas Show. Thomas takes time off from being a good comedian and terrible father to get arrested in the small town of Mayberry.

Candid Camera

Candid Camera 1948 Candia Camela CRACKED COM The show (originally a radio show called Candid Microphone) was the first televised reality show, featuring regular members of the public as its stars.

Leave It to Beaver

Leave It to Beaver 1957 CRACKED.COM Although not quite the first show to feature a toilet (it was edited out for being too scandalous), it was the first show to show a toilet tank and certainly one of the first to even include a bathroom.

I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy 1953 CRACKED.COM The first televised birth (well, not graphic birth) goes to Lucille Ball, who wasn't even allowed to say the word 'pregnant' because it was too taboo.

All in the Family

The first toilet flush 1971 CRACKED.COM Leave It To Beaver was the first to show a toilet (tank only!) in 1957, but All In The Family really went there with a daring toilet flush sound effect.

The Addams Family

The first home computer 1965 CRACKED.COM In The Addams Family, the gigantic family computer, Whizzo, is used to cheat at gambling and help rig an election. Pretty spot-on.

The First 24-Hour Newsday

The first 24-hour newsday 1963 CRACKED.COM The networks threw their regular programming out the window to cover the assassination of JFK around the clock.

The Flintstones

The first infertility arc 1963 CRACKED.COM After Pebbles is added to the Flintstones crew, Barney and Betty work through their depression over being unable to have kids themselves.

Instant Replay

The first instant replay 1963 CRACKED.COM The technology was ready just in time for the big Army-Navy game... at John F. Kennedy Stadium!

Laugh Tracks

The first laugh track 1950 CRACKED.COM The Hank McCune Show, a TV show about a guy running a variety show, was kind of like an early 30 Rock, except it was cancelled after 3 weeks.

All My Children

CRACKEDCO COM In the 1970s, soap opera All My Children was incredibly popular among college students. Reasons varied some loved it because it was rea

Taxi

Marilu Henner has an extraordinary memory. The actress from the sitcom Taxi is one of the few people in the world who have hyperthymesia. The conditio

The Jeffersons

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THE JEFFERSONS Spin-offs are often written off as money grabs, pushing comfort over substance. All In The Family spin-off The Jeffersons defies that characterization on every front. The Jeffersons was not only a success, but an incisive and fearless show, treading into topics that most current sitcoms would steer clear of.

Hot I Baltimore

CRACKED VULGARITY HISTORY The first TV show with a warning label In 1975, because of controversial characters like prostitutes, illegal immigrants, and one of the first gay couples on TV, the Norman Lear show Hot I Baltimore was the first TV show to be slapped with a warning label before each episode.

ABC

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The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan’s Island

HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS GILLIGAN'S ISLAND CRACKED COM In this made-for-TV movie, the Clown Princes of Basketball team up with the castaways to battle sup

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Gilligan’s Island

GILLIGAN'S ISLAND You can see a flag at alf-mast in the intro sequence. AINNOL CHARTER P- FREE LUNCHES President Kennedy was assassinated just before
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